Photographer captures devastation from the air

Soon after the magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11, 2011, photographers with The Asahi Shimbun took to the air to capture the devastation.

On March 5, photographers were flying over the hardest-hit prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate to record the reconstruction of the areas ravaged by the earthquake and tsunami.

Many coastal areas are now protected by massive embankments, but the construction of new homes on the higher ground has resulted in the hollowing out of what used to be residential areas of the communities.

A photo taken from the air taken from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 12, 2011 doesn't show anything out of the normal.

Later that same day, a hydrogen explosion rocked the No. 1 reactor building and similar explosions severely damaged the No. 4 reactor buildings will be built over the next few days.

The nuclear power plant has a huge number of storage tanks holding decontaminated water from the crippled reactors.