Japan Earthquake: Two Weeks Later

mohib · Mar 26, 2011

Two weeks after northeastern Japan was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami, the cost of the disaster is becoming clearer. The Japanese government has estimated the direct damage at as much as $310 billion, making it the world's costliest-ever natural disaster. As of today, more than 10,000 deaths have been confirmed and another 17,000 people remain missing. At Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, it raised suspicions of a possible breach when two workers waded into water 10,000 times more radioactive than normal and suffered skin burns. Earthquake survivors return to their homes to collect what they can find, to mourn their losses, and try to find a sense of normalcy in lives that have been ripped apart. Collected here are recent images from northeastern Japan, 14 days after it was rocked by disaster on a historic scale.

Notes left behind by Japanese evacuees looking for loved ones inside a shelter in the earthquake and tsunami-destroyed town of Rikuzentakata, Japan on Monday, March 21, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

A school board in an English classroom at a relief center in tsunami-damaged city of Rikuzentakata, in Iwate prefecture on March 24, 2011. (NICOLAS
ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)

A general night view taken with a long exposure, shows destroyed houses and debris in the tsunami-damaged city of Rikuzentakata on March 22, 2011. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)

mohib · Mar 26, 2011

Family members and relatives transfer the bones of Masaichi Oyama, who was killed by the tsunami, by chopsticks into an urn the during a cremation ceremony March 24, 2011 in Kurihara , Japan. The family lost three family members from the earthquake and tsunami. Under Japanese Buddhist practice, a cremation is the expected traditional way of dealing with the dead, but now with the death toll so high, crematoriums are overwhelmed and there is a shortage of fuel to burn them. Local municipalities are forced to dig mass graves as a temporary solution. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

A young evacuee is screened at a shelter for leaked radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, Thursday, March 24, 2011 in Fukushima, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Efforts to spray water into the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, are seen in this March 22, 2011 handout photograph released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Reuters/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

Ruins of a Toyota dealership, in Minamisanriku town, Miyagi prefecture, March 22, 2011.

This photo taken on March 23, 2011 shows people searching for their loved ones as they check bodies at a bowling alley converted into a makeshift morgue in Natori in Miyagi prefecture.

Japanese firemen carry away a body they found where it had been washed into a ravine in Onagawa, northeastern Japan Saturday, March 19, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Machiko Shimizu, a graduate from Okirai Junior High School, wipes her tears during a graduation ceremony at Okirai Kindergarten at Okirai district in Ofunato March 23, 2011. Classes stopped when the junior high school was hit by the March 11 tsunami. Students were kept away when it was used as a temporary morgue for earthquake and tsunami victims. On Wednesday, the students returned for a simple graduation ceremony held for 10 boys and 19 girls. (Reuters/Issei Kato)

A farmer drains milk into a pit in Iitate, in Fukushima, northeastern Japan, in this photo taken by Yomiuri Shimbun on March 23, 2011. Japanese authorities had temporarily advised against allowing infants to drink tap water in Tokyo due to raised radiation levels and the United States became the first nation to block some food imports from Japan, saying it will halt milk, vegetable and fruit imports from areas near the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant because of contamination fears. (Reuters/Yomiuri Shimbun)

zeshaan · Mar 26, 2011

Just imagin,If this is hapen in PAKISTAN,

How the GOVT/GOVT OFFICIAL responce,
And how the public responce?

tajammulali · Mar 27, 2011

I slute the govt and the people of Japan.
Very hard worker nation.

begubaba · Mar 27, 2011

AL HAMD O LILLAHILLAZI AAFANI MIMMABTILAKA BIHEE WA FAZZALANI ALA KASEERIM MIMMAN KHALAQNA TAFZEELA.
Please recite once when u see anyone in trouble/AAZMAISH

sprice17 · Mar 27, 2011

Though these pictures will describe how devastated they are, it is good to know that their nation as a whole stands by their means. I have read an article online describing how a major road had fallen apart being ripped apart in two and some parts have already fallen aside, and though this advantage, they were able to achieve an engineering feat bringing the road back to its normal working form in just 6 days! I mean, some constructions in our area take weeks to accomplish on a small part of the road but they were able to finish it, with all the other things they are dealing with in record time!

Nawazish · Mar 27, 2011

Some stunning images there. Nothing but admiration for the people of Japan

reliable · Mar 27, 2011

Astaghfrullah, May Allah give them sabar e jamil

s_as · Mar 27, 2011

ہم کچھ دوست پچھلے ہفتے ان علاقوں میں گئے تھے کچھ ضروری امدادی سامان لے کر - ہم نے وہاں ٣ دن قیام کیا - ان کا تو سب کچھ ختم ہو گیا - جاپانی لوگ عام طور پر اپنے جذبات کو چھپا کر رکھنے میں اپنا ثانی نہیں رکھتے مگر ہمارے وہاں قیام ک دوران بہت دفعہ ایسا ہوا کہ وہ ہمارے گلے لگ کے رویے - ہماری ذمہ داری ان کو کھانا پکا کر کھلانے کی تھی - کھانا لیتے وقت انتہائی نظم و ضبط کا مظاہرہ کرتے ہوئے قطار بنا کر اپنی باری پر لیتے تھے اور ساتھ ساتھ چپکے چپکے آنسو بھی بھاتے تھے - کوئی آنکھ ایسی نہیں تھی جس سے اشک نہ ٹپکے ہوں