Japan earthquake and tsunami aftermath - in pictures

A Japanese soldier prays before removing the body of a tsunami victim from rubble
Photograph: Takashi Noguchi/AFP/Getty Images

A man rides a bicycle through Kesennuma Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

An army officer instructs his team in the residential area of Otsuchi as heavy snow falls Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Medical staff in protective gear check radiation levels on people in Koriyama Photograph: Aflo/Rex Features

People walk away with personal items they recovered from their damaged house in Kamaishi Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

A woman waits in a line outside a grocery store in Ichinoseki as food becomes scarce Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

A woman picks up a bottle of soy sauce at a factory in Iwate prefecture Photograph: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

Survivors eat food they cooked on a road blocked by the rubble in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture Photograph: Tadashi Okkubo/AP

A woman rests in a school gymnasium being used as a shelter in Ofunato Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

A family waits at a centre for displaced people in Kesennuma
Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

A woman walks through a residential area in Rikuzentakata Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Two elderly Japanese women walk past a ship that was washed into their neighbourhood by the tsunami in Kesennuma Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

A military helicopter scoops up sea water. It is on its way to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to dump water on the stricken reactor Photograph: Kenji Shimizu/AP

An army officer cooks steamed rice to distribute to evacuees in Koriyama
Photograph: Ken Shimizu/AFP/Getty Images

A woman sifts through the rubble of her home in Kesennuma
Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

A man cries next to his destroyed house in Onagawa, where his mother is still buried in the rubble Photograph: Yomiuri/Reuters

Survivors' notes seeking information about missing relatives and friends hang on the entrance of Natori city hall Photograph: Koji Sasahara/AP

The devasted town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture behind tombstones Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

A firefighter sprays water to clean a street in the debris in Yamada Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

An aerial view of the destruction in Wakuya Photograph: Reuters