07 March 2012
Rikuzentakata, Iwate, Japan
Uprooted pine trees still lie strewn over a beach in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture. Rikuzentakata was almost completely destroyed by the 2011 tsunami, and lost up to 40 percent of its population of over 23,000.
A year after the March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated large areas of northeastern Japan, thousands of people remained without homes, and the Japanese government was still struggling to dispose of rubble and help rebuild livelihoods.
