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Main | Impact 2011 - Japan Earthquake | Second Place
First Place
Mainichi/AFLO/Zuma Press
"UNTITLED"
Second Place
Hiroto Sekiguchi
The Yomiuri Shimbun
"TSUNAMI IN JAPAN"
Third Place
David Guttenfelder
Associated Press
"JAPAN'S ELDER VICTIMS"
Award of Excellence
Mainichi/AFLO/Zuma Press
"UNTITLED"
Award of Excellence
Carlos Barria
Reuters
"QUAKE JAPAN / FUNERAL
Award of Excellence
Toru Hanai
Reuters
"UNTITLED"
Award of Excellence
Q. Sakamaki
Redux
"UNTITLED"
Award of Excellence
Jensen Walker
Getty Images
"RETURNING TO HOME REMAINS"
Second Place
Hiroto Sekiguchi
The Yomiuri Shimbun

"TSUNAMI IN JAPAN"

Yoshikatsu Hiratsuka, 66, breaks down and grieves by rubble that the body of his mother, Minori, 93, is still buried 6 days after tsunami devastated the area in Onagawa, Miyagi Pref. Yoshikatsu and his mother was together when tsunami clashed their home, swallowed them. He survived but not his mother. Yoshikatsu keeps saying out "Sorry for keeping you left here, Sorry...Sorry" as body of his wife, Hiroko, 61, is also laid on frozen ground beside of the wreckage where Minori is still buried. His son Masaru, 38, still remains undiscovered. A deadly earthquake measuring magnitude 9.0, recorded as one of most powerful in Japan’s history, hit northeastern cities on March 11, resulting in at least 16,000 deaths, 3500 still missing, causing the region flattened by tsunami, left 2.5 million tons of wreckage. It struck at a depth of 20 kilometers off the Sanriku coast in Iwate Prefecture at 2:46 p.m. lasted for several minutes. Tsunami also hit nuclear power plants in Fukushima prefecture, disabled plants’cooling system, caused in disastrous melt down. Government decided to shut the reactors down, but struggled to keep them under control for months. 330,000 evacuees were compelled to live in shelters, bravely waited to go home for many days. Many have moved to temporary houses that national and local governments provided within 6 months after tsunami and started rebuilding new lives.