Japan tsunami: the aftermath - in pictures

A member of the Japanese Self-Defence Force rescues a four-month-old girl in Ishinomaki Photograph: Hiroto Sekiguchi/AP

An aerial view of Higashimatsushima Photograph: Noboru Hashimoto/AFP/Getty Images

A girl who has been taken to a makeshift facility to screen, cleanse and isolate people with high radiation levels, looks at her dog through a window in Nihonmatsu Photograph: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters

A resident prays in an evacuation centre at Sendai Photograph: Kim Jae-hwan/AFP/Getty Images

A survivor pushes his bicycle through the devastated town of Otsuchi Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

A man sleeps next to his portrait in traditional dress at an evacuation centre in Rikuzentakata Photograph: Park Ji-ho/AP

A man walks through the remains of Minamisanriku Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters

At an evacuation centre in Rikuzentakata, survivors scan a list of people missing since the earthquake and tsunami Photograph: Park Ji-ho/AP

A woman cries while sitting on a road amid the destroyed city of Natori Photograph: Asahi Shimbun/Reuters

Survivors in Ishinomaki sit around a fire waiting to be rescued Photograph: Koki Azechi/AP

Rescue workers search for bodies below an upturned house in Natori Photograph: Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images

Rescuers run through rubble to high ground in Rikuzentakata after hearing a tsunami warning Photograph: Osamu Kanazawa/AP

Oil leaks from ships toppled by the tsunami in Fudai Photograph: Yomiuri/Reuters

A woman watches television coverage of the disaster in an evacuation centre in Hachinohe Photograph: How Hwee Young/EPA

A man walks through a tsunami-devastated area close to the sea front in Natori Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP

An emergency worker spreads disinfectant powder in Miyako Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

Japanese rescue workers carry the body of a tsunami victim in the devastated town of Otsuchi where 12,000 out of a population of 15,000 have disappeared Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Japanese medical personnel check a mother and son for radiation exposure in Kawamata Photograph: Asahi Shimbun/EPA

People walk on a makeshift dirt road among the rubble in Minamisanrikucho Photograph: Hiroaki Ono/AP/The Yomiuri Shimbun

The dead bodies of three people under blue plastic sheeting as search and rescue workers look for survivors in Natori Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

A tsunami survivor stands alone amid debris in Minami Sanriku Photograph: Kimimasa Mayama/EPA

Rescue workers move the body of a patient through the halls of a hospital in Minamisanriku Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters

Japanese rescue team members carry the body of a man from Saito Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP