Nearly a week has passed since Japan suffered its worst crisis since World War II. More than 4,000 have been confirmed killed and more than 8,000 remain missing after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the northeast coast of Japan six days ago. The hundreds of thousands now displaced by the quake, the ensuing tsunami -- and now, fears of radioactivity -- are scattered across the country, finding shelter and aid where they can, as they begin to rebuild their lives as survivors. Search-and-rescue teams from several countries have now joined Japanese forces, scouring the vast fields of rubble that were neighborhoods and towns just last week. Collected here are recent images of the ongoing recovery efforts and of Japanese citizens coping with this historic disaster.
Japan Earthquake: The Struggle to Recover
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A Japanese home drifts in the Pacific Ocean in this photograph taken on March 13, 2011 and released on March 14. Ships and aircrafts from the U.S. Navy's Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are searching for survivors in the coastal waters near Sendai, Japan, in the wake of 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that officials say claimed at least 10,000 lives. #
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A rescue helicopter lowers a man in search of victims along a remote hillside near Kesennuma City on March 15, 2011, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. #
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A woman uses her phone after she found a quiet place at a shelter for those evacuated away from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Koriyama, Japan. #
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Medical staff use a Geiger counter to screen a photographer for possible radiation exposure at a public welfare center in Niigata, northern Japan March 16, 2011. Radiation has been released into the atmosphere at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. on the country's northeast coast, which was badly damaged after a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11. #
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A truck dangles from a collapsed bridge in Ishinomaki, northern Japan, Tuesday, March 15, 2011, four days after a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami hit the country's east coast. #
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A woman walks away from a message wall after writing a message to the victims of last week's earthquake and tsunami in Japan in central Seoul, South Korea on March 16, 2011. #
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Tsunami debris scattered over a devastated area of Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, seen on March 14, 2011. Japan's government on March 15 urged people against panic-buying of food and supplies, as the country grapples with an earthquake and tsunami and resulting nuclear crisis. #
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Click to view imageBodies of victims are seen partly covered at a village destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture, northeast Japan on March 15, 2011. #
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A general view of a darkened Tokyo skyline during peak hour, dark due to power cuts after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck on March 11th. Photo taken on March 15, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan. #
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Tokyo Electric Co. employees in charge of public relations use a photo of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex to explain the situation during a press conference Wednesday, March 16, 2011 in Tokyo, Japan. The outer housing of the containment vessel at the No. 4 unit at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex erupted in flames early Wednesday, said a spokesman for the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. #
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A shopper looks at the empty shelves in a supermarket in Moriyama, Japan, Tuesday, March 15, 2011, four days after a giant quake and tsunami struck the country's northeastern coast. #
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A member of a British search and rescue team looks out from the window of a damaged house surrounded by debris from the tsunami, as snow falls in Kamaishi, Japan, Wednesday, March 16, 2011. Two search and rescue teams from the U.S. and a team from the U.K. with combined numbers of around 220 personnel searched the town for survivors Wednesday to help in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake and tsunami. #
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Kiyomi Kimura (right) hugs her daughter Manami Numakura after Numakura found her mother at a shelter in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on March 15, 2011. #
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Rescue workers carry a charred body from the rubble onto a truck from a village destroyed by the devastating earthquake, fires and tsunami March 16, 2011 in Kesennuma, Miyagi province, Japan. #
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Policemen gather around the covered bodies of victims retrieved from the debris in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, March 16, 2011. #
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A resident walks in an area damaged by tsunami as the debris among the trees shows the height of the tsunami at a village in Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan on March 16, 2011. #
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A man holds his dog as they wait to be scanned for radiation exposure at a temporary scanning center for residents living close to the quake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. #
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A classroom devastated by tsunami is seen at an elementary school in Otsuchi, Iwate, northern Japan Monday, March 14, 2011 following Friday's massive earthquake and the ensuing tsunami. #
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Click to view imageA woman cries as she holds the hand of her dead mother buried in mud after an earthquake and a tsunami in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan March 16, 2011. #
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