Japan earthquake: Ten years on from disaster that shocked the world

Houses ripped up from their foundations, boats washed miles inland, streets buried in rubble and smoke rising from electrical fires – these were the other-worldly scenes beamed around the world almost 10 years ago after Japan was hit by one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded. 

It was 2.46pm local time on March 11, 2011, when the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake struck off Japan’s east coast, triggering a tsunami up to 56ft high that washed inland and destroyed everything in its path.

By the latest count, 15,899 people lost their lives with another 2,572 people missing and presumed dead. More than 6,000 were injured, with whole towns wiped from the map.

At the Fukushima Daatchi nuclear power plant, the water caused a meltdown that irradiated large parts of the surrounding prefecture, many of which are still uninhabitable. 

But, as these remarkable images show, other parts of the country have been almost completely rebuilt over the last decade and are now unrecognisable from the scenes of devastation that shocked the world that day.

The city of Kesennuma, located in Miyagi prefecture, is seen (left) on March 16, 2011, five days after the earthquake and tsunami struck, and the same view again (right) is seen on on January 27, 2021, almost 10 years on

A street in the town of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, is blocked by a house and other debris washed inland by the tsunami on March 14, 2011 (left), and the same street is seen (right) on January 27, 2021

A passenger ferry left stranded atop a tourist house in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture, is pictured (left) on April 16, 2011, more than a month after the tsunami deposited it there, while the same building is seen (right) on January 27

Part of the destroyed city of of Ofunato, in Iwate prefecture, is pictured (left) on March 14, 2011, just days after the quake struck, and again (right) on January 27, almost ten years after the disaster

An area of Minamisanriku, in Miyagi…