Japanese struggle in aftermath of earthquake and tsunami - in pictures

Tayo Kitamura, 40, kneels in the street to caress and talk to the wrapped body of her mother Kuniko Kitamura, 69, after Japanese firemen discovered the dead woman inside the ruins of her home in Onagawa Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

A resident walks along a street lined by debris in Yamada Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A photo album lies among the debris Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Evacuees are given hot soup at an evacuation centre in the coastal city of Rikuzentakata Photograph: Dai Kurokawa/EPA

A Sony PlayStation controller is seen in the area devastated by the earthquake and tsunami Photograph: Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters

A fire truck sprays water at reactor 3 of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Tomioka Photograph: Reuters

Members of Japan's self-defence forces carry the body of a victim found in a car amid the rubble at a destroyed residential area of Kesennuma, Miyagi Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

An elderly woman cries in front of a destroyed building in the devastated town of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A wheelchair sits among the rubble in Minamisanriku Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Rescue crews dig through rubble in Minamisanriku, Japan. Many people have begun to return to their homes but the search continues for thousands still missing Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

A resident stands at the location where her house use to be before it was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami Photograph: AFP/Getty Images