Three days after a massive earthquake that is now estimated to have registered a 9.0 magnitude, Japanese rescue crews are being joined by foreign aid teams in the search for survivors in the wreckage. Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has called the disaster nation's worst crisis since World War II, as the incredible scope of the destruction becomes clear and fears mount of a possible nuclear meltdown at a failing power plant. It is still too early for exact numbers, but the estimated death toll may top 10,000 as thousands remain unaccounted for. Gathered here are new images of the destruction and of the search for survivors. [This is a follow-up to an earlier entry: Earthquake in Japan] More images will be added as they come in.
Japan Earthquake: Aftermath
-
A wave approaches Miyako City from the Heigawa estuary in Iwate Prefecture after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck the area March 11, 2011. Picture taken March 11, 2011. #
REUTERS/Mainichi Shimbun -
-
A car sits on top of a small building in a destroyed neighborhood in Sendai, Japan, on Sunday, March 13, 2011 after it was washed into the area by the tsunami that hit northeastern Japan. #
AP Photo/David Guttenfelder -
-
Smoke billows from an oil refinery with submerged rice paddy in foreground following a massive tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011. #
AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa -
-
-
-
-
Oil leaked from a Nippon Petroleum Refining Co. oil factory float at Shiogama bay, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011, a day after one of Japan's strongest earthquakes ever recorded hit the country's east coast. #
AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Naoki Ueda -
Police officers wearing respirators guide people to evacuate away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following an evacuation order for residents who live in within a 10 km (6.3 miles) radius from the plant after an explosion in Tomioka Town in Fukushima Prefecture March 12, 2011. Japanese authorities battling to contain rising pressure in nuclear reactors damaged by a massive earthquake were forced to release radioactive steam from one plant on March 12, 2011 after evacuating tens of thousands of residents from the area. Tokyo Electric Power Co also said fuel may have been damaged by falling water levels at the Daiichi facility, one of its two nuclear power plants in Fukushima, some 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo. #
REUTERS/Asahi Shimbun -
-
Self-Defense Force officers search for missing people after a tsunami and earthquake in Rikuzentakatashi City in Iwate Prefecture in northeastern Japan March 12, 2011. #
REUTERS/Yomiuri -
Buildings destroyed by a tsunami are pictured in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, in northern Japan after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 13, 2011. #
REUTERS/Kyodo -
-
-
A resident is rescued from debris in Natori, Miyagi, northern Japan Saturday, March 12, 2011, after one of the country's strongest earthquakes ever recorded hit its eastern coast on Friday. #
AP Photo/Asahi Shimbun, Noboru Tomura -
-
Rescue workers lift the body of a victim from the rubble in Rikuzentakata, northern Japan after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 13, 2011. #
REUTERS/Toru Hanai -
People evacuate with small boats down a road flooded by the tsunami waves in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on March 12, 2011 a day after massive quake and tsunami hit the region. #
JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images -
-
A man looks at the scene of devastation as he stands in the rubble in Rikuzentakata, northern Japan after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 13, 2011. #
REUTERS/Toru Hanai
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.