Japan Earthquake 2011: Before/After Satellite Images Show Extent Of Devastation (PHOTOS)

Released Google Satellite photos show the extent of damage after a magnitude-8.9 earthquake and ferocious tsunami slammed into Japan's eastern shore Friday.

Among the many landmarks featured in the series: Fukushima Nuclear Plant, where a reactor core continues to malfunction, as well as Sendai Airport, whose runways were washed over by filthy water on Friday after the tsunami struck.

View live updates from the scene here.

See Google's shocking before and after satellite shots below:

Arahama in Sendai in 2008

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Arahama in Sendai in 2008

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Arahama in Sendai in 2008

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Comments

[BoudiccaBlanc]

01:23 PM on 03/18/2011

I've been watching the USGS site for some time now. Last night I noticed that Japan was the only place with a recent quake (1 hour or less)

This morning @ "Friday, March 18, 17:06:43 utc 2011" there were" 635 Earthquakes on this map;" The frequency of quakes had diminished on the US west coast, the Aleutians and across the strait in Russia. Obviously the Japanese quakes had, for a time, removed pressure in other coastal areas.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/

[Dan Hyatt]

02:08 PM on 03/17/2011

When I see the before and after photos, it looks like someone might be filtering the photographs. As items that should remain green as they are on a hillside are magically brown and such like that.

Also they seem to have darkened the photos to make it look more ominous.
It has become very common to doctor photographs for effect.

[bryanzth]

01:33 PM on 03/18/2011

And what are your credentials and basis for this claim?

Where are you? Do I have to call it? Some safe, warm nest somewhere?

Tsk tsk.

BZ.

[vengenceofgod]

11:07 PM on 03/25/2011

Yeah Dan its all an illusion, the pictures are phony just like you!

[edejan]

12:57 PM on 03/17/2011

What I haven't heard anyone address is the loss of green cover in these photos, especially those in less industrialized areas. Is all the topsoil stripped away or just buried in mud? I'm wondering what this means for the future of Japan's agriculture.

[Allen Jenkins]

09:23 PM on 03/17/2011

The question of topsoil stripped away is a good one. The effects of being covered by salt water is that everything will die, to be replace by whatever seeds remain, spurred by the sudden loss of cover from other vegetation, activated by direct sunlight.
The darkness can be caused by the loss of green vegetation, reflecting color off it's leaves. Cloud conditions at the time of the flyover also cause artifacts in the pictures.
Not all the "before" aerial photographs could have been taken at the same time, same as our US-American maps also show.
The inherent knowledge of conservation, composting, & land use by the Japanese people will determine the direction of the future of the land.

[ocean1954]

10:46 AM on 03/17/2011

Question;
when I review the difference in cultural response, the individual people and how they handle disaster.

I find myself very impressed by the Japanese people and their personal reaction to this string of life threatening events.

all government response aside; do we as a nation teach helplessness (consider Katrina, etc)? Is it a measure of financial development, (consider Haiti)?

I see no riots and burning, stealing from stores. Consider the Northridge and San Fransico Earthquakes.

I respect your reporting and would like a better understanding of these differences.

[illlill]

11:26 AM on 03/17/2011

The Japanese people have always considered honor and pride as extremely important. In America the families have been corrupted, if there is a family at all. Therefore, there is no family to teach such things. In America many of the citizens have been taught that they are owed something, including respect. If they don't get what they think is owed them they rob, steel, loot and kill.

[bryanzth]

01:37 PM on 03/18/2011

We no longer have our heritage in the EE.UU (USA). Our heritage is being remanufactured by corporations, conservative institutes, and demagogues.

Members of my family who come from Eastern Europe no longer speak the family languages and barely speak English very well. We don't "DO" history, much less civics (the history and current events surrounding our government).

Excellent place to grow fascism, don't you think? ;0)

BZ.

[TheLastAJ]

07:21 AM on 03/17/2011

how can there only be a couple of thousand dead? These photos would suggest hundreds of thousands.

[Randolph Greer]

05:40 PM on 03/17/2011

Those who might have reported people missing are also dead . They will have to do a census to determine how many actually died . We will know in a year or so .

[bryanzth]

01:43 PM on 03/18/2011

Do you read? Have you done the research?

In Japan, after an earthquake, people look to the sea and then turn 180º and run for high ground as the tsunami sirens fire off. They know where high ground is, whether it be the roof of a hospital or school (both strongly built against earthquakes) or the hills surrounding the valleys where the water ran 10 meters high.

However, your claim would be valid here in the USA, where we have NO SUCH warnings or training. That of course is done, since the tsunami, earthquake or other disaster would remove/eliminate a lot of the rabble that should have died long ago. You can find earthquake/tsunami/disaster planning as small print in the GOP Health Plan:

1. Don't get sick.
2. If you do get sick, die quickly.
3. In the event of an earthquake, tsnunami, or similar disaster, bend down, put your head between your knees and the reach to kiss your butt goodbye.
{unsnark}

Yes, you have this future if you live in this country and are not extremely rich and protected.

BZ.

[DarkTheory]

09:50 PM on 03/16/2011

Insensitivity towards this subject is pretty damn shocking. Think of all of the lives lost, people injured, possessions lost and the future these people face.

[TheRoosterman]

09:47 PM on 03/16/2011

man the devastation is just heart breaking. the resilience of the people is just amazing and inspiring.

[troyrobertdavid]

02:07 PM on 03/16/2011

Anyone that says this tragedy was divine punishment needs to be sacrificed to the Volcano Gods.

[LA BLOGUERA ERRANTE]

07:20 AM on 03/16/2011

Will we learn something observing the great tragedy Japanese people are suffering?...Could we live in a more harmonious world, giving up an uncontrolled consumer goods in this silly consumer society?.

[Ajay Nishad]

06:40 AM on 03/16/2011

Full Video at tgis link : http://bit.ly/esp2Rh
Five of the six reactors at the Fukshima Dalichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s.
Fukushima Nuclear Plant, where a reactor core continues to malfunction, as well as Sendai Airport, whose runways were washed over by filthy water on Friday after the tsunami struck.

[Ajay Nishad]

06:39 AM on 03/16/2011

Full Video at tgis link : http://bit.ly/esp2Rh
Five of the six reactors at the Fukshima Dalichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s.

[foxforcefive]

04:44 AM on 03/16/2011

Sea Shepherd Paul Watson's message to the possible 10,000 casualties of the earthquake/tsunami and thousands more who have lost their loved ones:

http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/03/14/paul-watson-tsunami-that-killed-hundreds-of-japanese-was-divine-punishment/

If you were planning to make donations to Sea Shepherd, please take that money and donate it to the victims of this disaster.

[innerpuppie]

03:09 PM on 03/16/2011

I am not going to take sides. What has happened in Japan, the human toll, is horrendous and so very sad. However, Captain Watson has witnessed the Japanese killing endangered whales for years falsely stating that they were doing 'research'. The 'research' whale meat and whale parts would make their way to the markets in Japan and Europe. So, IMHO, Watson comes by his opinion(s) honestly - right or wrong, in your opinion or mine.

[Michael Stover]

09:38 PM on 03/16/2011

Wrong. The people don't deserve to be wiped out for their government's lives. Tch.

[foxforcefive]

01:12 PM on 03/17/2011

So you think that 10,000 human lives (most of whom had no connection to the whaling industry) is even remotely equivalent to several thousand whales (most of which weren't endangered)? Despite your claim of not taking sides, you're drawing parallels between the two completely unrelated issues. This is no different than saying that 9/11 was an awful tragedy, *HOWEVER* the world have witnessed the Americans slaughtering whales and buffalo to near extinction (as well as innocent Vietnamese and Iraqi civilians). Any sane American would dismiss someone claiming this as being nuts.