Tsunami scars linger a decade later in Japan

TOKYO – The pictures still shock you.

Dazed survivors march beneath huge marine carriers deposited in the mounds of rubble and the twisted iron that was once a crowded city center, with ships flipped to their sides like children’s toys. Grieving survivors move through the flat rubble of their homes. Abandoned farms stand in the shadow of the Fukushima nuclear plant, as the echo of the catastrophic collapse still reverberates.

The Associated Press captured these captivating photos in 2011 after a huge wall of water leveled part of Japan’s northeast coast, sweeping away cars, homes, office buildings and thousands of people.

Ten years later, AP reporters are back documenting communities torn apart by what is referred to here as the Great East Japan Earthquake. The desire to rebuild on a land ravaged by thousands of years of disasters – volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, war and famine – is strong, and there are areas where there is no trace of the devastation of 2011.

But this triple disaster in Japan’s Tohoku region – the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown – was unlike any Japan had faced before, and the challenges of returning to what was normal a decade ago were formidable. Half a million forced from their homes. Tens of thousands did not return, emptying towns that were already struggling to prevent their youth from leaving for Tokyo and other major cities. Radiation concerns linger. Government inefficiency, petty bickering and bureaucratic bickering delayed construction efforts.

Despite setbacks and uneven progress, the Tohoku of 2021 is a testament to our collective willpower – national, local and personal. Look closely, though, and you’ll see that even the most astonishing transformation bears remnants of what happened in 2011, the scars of this deep wound to the region’s psyche.

These AP images, then and now, raise a fundamental question: How would you define change after a major trauma?

In a way, it’s the simplest thing in the world that can describe. Tons of rubble removed here, oil tankers not fallen there. Roads that have been re-paved where there were piles of asphalt cracked and twisted before. The shiny new buildings now rise above the dirt stains.

But the cruelty of this physical change also holds an idea of ​​something much less obvious, something about the people who live in these places. Their resilience, sobriety, sadness, anger, and stubborn refusal to bow to forces beyond their control, whether natural or bureaucratic.

All of that, and more, is to be found in these powerful scenes of before and after, past and present.

The photos tell the story of the great change and the people who made it.

On March 15, 2011, file photo, vehicles pass through the ruins of the destroyed Minamisanriku city, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, four days after a tsunami destroyed the area. (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

On March 7, 2016, file photo, construction continues in collapsed Minamisanriku City, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, nearly five years after the tsunami of March 11, 2011. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Vehicles pass through the streets of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 6, 2021, nearly 10 years after the tsunami on March 11, 2011. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)

History of Corrections – On March 15, 2011, file photo, an earthquake and tsunami survivor rides his bike through the devastated city of Minamisanriku, in northeastern Japan, four days after the tsunami. (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

On February 23, 2012, file photo, a car passes through the devastated city of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, nearly a year after the tsunami on March 11th. (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

On March 5, 2016, a file photo, trucks and cars pass through the devastated city of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, nearly five years after the tsunami. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, File)

A woman walks in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, Saturday, March 6, 2021, nearly ten years after the tsunami. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)

On February 22, 2012, a file photo, two officials walk along a street in Onagawa City, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan devastated by the tsunami and the earthquake devastated by the earthquake. (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

On March 19, 2011, a file photo, residents of Onagawa City in Miyagi Prefecture, Northern Japan, destroyed Onagawa City in Miyagi Prefecture, Northern Japan, walking down an empty street. (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

On March 5, 2016, file photo, trucks line up to empty soil in the tsunami and earthquake that devastated Onagawa City, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Ten years after the disaster, some new buildings have yet to appear scattered in the town of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, which were devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. Thursday 4 March 2021 (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)

On March 28, 2011, a file photo, a ship sitting in a destroyed residential neighborhood in Kisinuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, after a powerful tsunami hit the area on March 11 (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

On February 23, 2012, a file photo, a ship sits in a ravaged residential neighborhood in Kisenuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, nearly a year after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the country’s coast. (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

On March 6, 2016, file photo, the reconstruction process is seen in the residential neighborhood that destroyed the 2011 tsunami in Kisenuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Tsunami destroyed a residential neighborhood in Kisnuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Friday, March 5, 2021 (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)

On February 23, 2012, file photo, Japanese residents are seen on a road in the devastated part of Kisinuma City, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, on February 23, 2012, roughly one year after the March 11, 2011 tsunami. (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

In this file photo from March 7, 2016, a worker checks a construction site in Kisinuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)

On February 23, 2012, file photo, vehicles pass through the ruins of the destroyed city of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, nearly a year after the tsunami of March 11, 2011. (AP Photo / David Guttenfelder, File)

Nearly 10 years after the 2011 tsunami, restored streets were seen in Kisinuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Friday, March 5, 2021 (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)

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