Japan Earthquake Anniversary: Photos From Before And After Tsunami Show Destruction (PHOTOS)

The devastation caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, cannot be overstated; the 9.0-magnitude quake created scenes cut from disaster films, but with real-world consequences. CNN reports that 30-foot walls of water took everything in their paths, from rice fields to reinforced buildings.

Check out the slideshow below for before-and-after photos of the disaster.

Roads cracked like porcelain, cars were tossed like toys, and hundreds were killed in an instant. The destructive force of last year's disaster lingers a year later.

"This is the kind of earthquake that hits once every 100 years," restaurant worker Akira Tanaka told the BBC.

More information about the tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster slowly has trickled out, with orphaned photos still finding their way home, and secret reports about the lack of preparation for a nuclear disaster painting a grave portrait. As the fallout continues, California prepares itself for the tsunami debris to reach its coasts.

Below, see photos of the same locations before and after the tsunami hit. Stay tuned for more anniversary coverage from The Huffington Post.

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• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a catamaran sightseeing boat washed by the tsunami onto a two-story tourist home in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture on April 16, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 16, 2012 (bottom). March 11, 2012 will mark the first anniversary of the massive tsunami that pummelled Japan, claiming more than 19,000 lives. Credit: Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combo shows an image (top) taken by a Miyako City official on March 11, 2011 of the tsunami breeching an embankment and flowing into the city of Miyako in Iwate prefecture and the same area (bottom image) on Jan. 16, 2012 nearly one year after the March 11 tsunami devastated the area. Credit: Jiji Press / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows people evacuating with small boats down a road flooded by the tsunami in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on March 12, 2011 (top) and the same area on January 13, 2012 (bottom). Jiji Press / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a vehicle sitting on a three-story building in a tsunami hit area of the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi prefecture on March 13, 2011 (L) and the same area on Jan. 14, 2012 (R). Credit: Jiji Press / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows people walking on a bridge upon which a boat lies washed up by the tsunami in Hishonomaki, Miyagi prefecture on March 15, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 13, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Philippe Lopez / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a private plane, cars and debris outside Sendai Airport in Natori, Miyagi prefecture on March 13, 2011 (top) two days after a tsunami hit the region on March 11, 2011 and the same area on Jan. 12, 2012 (bottom). March 11, 2012 will mark the first anniversary of the massive tsunami that pummeled Japan, claiming more than 19,000 lives. Credit: Mike Clarke / Toro Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows damage caused by the March 11, 2011 tsunami seen from a hill overlooking the city of Kesennuma on March 16, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 14, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Phillippe Lopez / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows local residents looking at a tsunami hit area of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture on March 12, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 11, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Kazuhiro Nogi / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a rescue worker walking through rubble in the tsunami hit area of Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture on March 18, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 14, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Mike Clarke / Toru Ymanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a tsunami hit area of Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture on March 22, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 15, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Nicolas Asfouri / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a fishing boat lying amongst the tsunami rubble in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture on March 31, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 16, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Toshifumi Kitamura / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows the view of a tsunami hit area of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture on March 14, 2011 (top) and as the scene appears on Jan. 15, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Toshifumi Kitamura / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows cars piled up in front of the airport control tower in Sendai on March 14, 2011 (L) after a tsunami hit the region on March 11, 2011 and the same area on Jan. 12, 2012 (R). Credit: Phillippe Lopez / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows the view of a tsunami hit area of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture on March 14, 2011 (L) and on Jan. 15, 2012 (R). Credit: Toshifumi Kitamura / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a tsunami hit area of Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture on March 22, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 15, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Nicolas Asfouri / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows residents walking on roads covered with mud and debris in a tsunami hit area of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 14, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 13, 2012 (bottom). Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a cherry blossom tree amongst tsunami devastation in the city of Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture on April 20, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 16, 2012 (bottom). Credit: Yasuyoshi Chiba / Toru Yamanaka, AFP / Getty Images

• Japan Tsunami One Year Later

  This combination of pictures shows a tsunami hit area of Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture on March 22, 2011 (top) and the same area on Jan. 15, 2012 (bottom). March 11, 2012 will mark the first anniversary of the massive tsunami that pummelled Japan, claiming more than 19,000 lives. Credit: Nicolas Asfouri / Toru Yamanaka, Getty Images

More photos from Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture:

Comments

[I AM THAT]

06:37 PM on 03/11/2012

too bad that kind of clean up cant happen here.

[Ivona Poyntz]

03:45 PM on 03/11/2012

So sad

[KDX250]

10:24 AM on 03/11/2012

wear did it all go?

[rkchi]

08:55 AM on 03/11/2012

Wow simply amazing...... to clean such a catastrophic mess in one year, you have to admire them for their determination and efficiency

[FreeSpeech4All]

03:06 AM on 03/11/2012

It's amazing to see the progress that has taken place in just a year, given the scope of this disaster. There are areas of New Orleans that don't look this good 6 1/2 year after Hurricane Katrina. I admire the Japanese people for their resilience and ability to move forward in the wake of such a tragedy.

[ajwriter]

01:42 AM on 03/11/2012

A lot has been done, but the recovery continues. One year is nothing with something like this. Disaster recovery is another thing that loosely follows the 80/20 rule (80 percent of the work takes 20 percent of the energy, the remaining 20 percent of the work takes 80 percent of the energy...) because recovery across the board takes a long time. In the US, it's typical after a large disaster for only 10-15% of people displaced by destroyed homes to be back after a year (or maybe it's even two years)...

[pleasebereasonable]

01:24 AM on 03/11/2012

Yet another misleading headline on HP. It's the norm, anymore.

[PA Observer]

02:39 PM on 03/12/2012

Exactly... these photos are before and after the CLEANUP, not the tsunami. Come on, HuffPo, do your homework!

[LetsKeepitSimple]

12:23 PM on 03/09/2012

And if you saw pictures TODAY, you would see a huge improvement about 1 year after. Much worst distruction from the Tsunami than Haiti with the earthquake. Haiti about the same as it was 3 yrs ago now,

why the big difference between Japan and Haiti?? THink about it? Japan was also total rubble after WW2.....
Think....why? BTW Japan has zero natural resources

[Bibulus]

01:29 AM on 03/11/2012

Alarm and befuddlement at the response differential and reconstruction between a first world modern, dynamic, homogeneous, and ancient civilization and one of the world's most failed states born of revolt and bereft of any natural endowment illustrates the REAL need to "letskeepitSimple". Better funding of the U.S. educational system is needed yesterday.

[LetsKeepitSimple]

03:10 PM on 03/11/2012

Lets see, Haiti is a mess because of the US Education system? That's novel?

The only way I could twist that is that people donating money to Haiti through Clinton dont realize that the money wont end up in Haiti, more education may open people's eye's, but its a streach IMO

[LE POST IT]

03:44 PM on 03/07/2012

Japanese people are very courageous in adversity.
We have much to learn from them yet.

[Bibulus]

01:33 AM on 03/11/2012

We'll "learn" plenty when the radioactive tides from the year-long and ongoing seaside disposal nuclear accident finally reaches our shores around Santa Barbara. Thankfully we'll all be sufficiently distracted by the pap & pablum fed to us by our corporate media about "surface debris" to notice the irradiation of our fisheries and children. The silence of our so-called fourth estate is deafening.

[jugglingtam]

07:32 PM on 03/01/2012

Even in my little town in Chiba, Japan, earthquake damage is still being repaired. So it's amazing how much physical recovery there has been, but even a year on, there's still a lot to get over. The Japanese are a very resilient people, and despite all the issues with TEPCO (there are many), we are safe and trying to move on slowly but surely :)

tamdoesjapan.wordpress.com

[LetsKeepitSimple]

12:26 PM on 03/09/2012

Good lluck, you are way ahead of Haiti, 3 yrs after their earthquake, pretty much the same. Shows how hardworking the Japanese are.
I visited your fine country 2 years ago and was very impressed, FWIW I also visited Haiti, not so impressed, more shocked.

[AlaskanWannaB]

01:49 AM on 03/11/2012

Hard to work when people are hungry. Let's see how resilient you would be. Stop judging.

[Suntio]

08:28 AM on 03/11/2012

Yes, we get it: black are lazy, right?

[Bibulus]

01:38 AM on 03/11/2012

I would like to believe that you are indeed safe but the on-going irradiation, "exclusion zones" FOREVER and Godzilla/Hiroshima/Chernobyl/Fukushima world cesium parade to annihilation continues unabated and despite the visible "recovery & reconstruction" will be unforgivable in the minds of our great grandchildren regardless of how much we pat ourselves on our backs. We our the worst of stewards and are not entirely undeserving of our self-inflicted fate.

[sasidechick]

01:00 PM on 02/29/2012

I watched a Frontline on PBS last night about the tsunami. I see that the Japanese business TEPCO rules Japan just like Wall Street rules ours. The fact that the PRIME MINISTER had to FLY to the plant himself to get answers because they were ducking his phone calls is simply amazing. There was obvious concern that the pressure was building and the stacks had to be vented to prevent a blowup. He gave the order and two days later it still hadn't happened. You know why? They didn't know HOW to do it since there was no electricity. They got CAR BATTERIES out of the parking lot just to get one gauge to work to get readings.


They showed drone pictures that the US took when Japan was on the news saying everything was ok. The US told its citizens to move 50 miles away while the Japanese stayed at 12 miles. It is was very illuminating. I would suggest watching online if you are interested in what really went down.

[msmelo75]

08:28 PM on 02/29/2012

I watched the FrontLine episode also and it had a "jaw-drop" effect on me. Then the thought: What if it happened here (?)

[Bibulus]

01:41 AM on 03/11/2012

It is about to happen here.

Google "Tsunami Debris" and your plate will promptly be filled by your information masters. Google "radioactive water coming to California" and you will go hungry.

...such is our "information" age.

[LetsKeepitSimple]

12:28 PM on 03/09/2012

There was 35000 people killed by the Tsunami and 1 (maybe) by the nuclear plant accident(heart attack). Folks you need to remember this is a natural disaster, and nuclear plants build in the last 30 years would have continued working without and major problem.

[Javier Soler]

11:52 AM on 02/29/2012

Beofre and after tsunami or before and after tsunami CLEANUP? Come on, Huffpost...

[Opus Fideo]

01:58 PM on 03/02/2012

obviously the cleanup

[Javier Soler]

02:52 PM on 03/02/2012

I know. It was a rhetorical question. HP screwed up a very simple headline.

[samanthatsu05]

11:27 AM on 02/29/2012

"
But Japan, which has consistently aided others in the past, is not alone — offers of help are pouring in from around the globe.

Japan has accepted offers of assistance from a host of countries, including: Germany, Britain, Mexico and New Zealand. Australia, Singapore and South Korea promised to send search and rescue teams.
"


Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/13/dozens-of-countries-pledge-help-to-earthquake-stricken-japan/#ixzz1nmvx6jzk This is out of a Times newsfeed, and hopefully Japan will get the help that they have been reportedly been offered.

[samanthatsu05]

11:17 AM on 02/29/2012

I also think the title name should be changed to "After tsunami." and "After clean up."On another note we should be a bit more worried with the lives that were lost and the families trying to recooperate, other than how debri may alter your enviroment sligjhtly. I might also add that any debri that lands here in the U.S as stated Califronia, will be much easier to clean up for ourselves. It's called natural disaster for a reason. Don't you think Japan has a lot on their plates already?

[xlco112475to0315]

11:07 AM on 02/29/2012

The "nuclear disaster" was caused by the power plant being built in a flood prone area. Probably for monetary and time constraints. If it was built further away from the ocean, on higher ground of course it takes more money for piping, right of way easements and labor. The need is to build nuclear plants on higher ground with strong bedrock foundations. Nuclear power is safe, you just hear about every accident where something happens. I don't know of any other industry where every violation is news worthy.

[warsaw]

11:04 AM on 03/11/2012

Nuclear power plants using water cooled methods use approx 300,000 gpm of water. they need to be located by an ocean or large body of water. That one feature makes them inherently vulnerable. The thing about nuclear disasters is that a single incident can contaminate an area for 100's if not 1,000's of years. And it's typically not a small area either.