Wed 10 Mar 2021 20.17 EST
Last modified on Thu 11 Mar 2021 07.19 EST
On 11 March 2011 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off Japan’s north-east coast, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people.
The tsunami destroyed more than 120,000 buildings and forced more than 450,000 people to live in temporary shelters. Damage to housing, businesses, roads and other infrastructure came to an estimated US$210bn, making it the costliest natural disaster ever.
Damage done by the waves’ destructive power set off a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate and turning nearby communities into ghost towns.
A decade later much has changed along the hundreds of miles of devastated coastline. Parks and public spaces have replaced buildings swept away by the tsunami, and new homes stand on elevated land.
A poster at a supermarket in Tokyo operated by Summit Inc. says it will close during the first three days of the new year. This photo was taken on Dec. 3. (Yoshikatsu Nakajima)
This New Year’s sales season is going to look a lot different from normal under the COVID-19 pandemic, with many supermarkets closing and far fewer lucky bags lining department store shelves.
Summit Inc., which operates food supermarkets in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, will close 113 stores almost all its outlets between Jan. 1 and Jan. 3. It is the first time in 33 years it will close its stores during the period.