One Year Later: The Aftermath of the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

By Kenneth Chamberlain

March 9, 2012 | 8:43 a.m.

A year after an earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan, progress has been made in recovery, but not much, according to the Los Angeles Times and other media reports. Much of the rubble has been cleaned up, but many thousands of people still live in temporary homes, towns and villages remain leveled, and all but two of the country's 54 commercial nuclear reactors are idle, the New York Times reports.

Below are photos of some of the areas in northern Japan that were affected by the twin disasters. The second image is animation released by NOAA after the earthquake.

As of Feb. 21, pieces of clothing are heaped at the site of a neighborhood destroyed by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, in Rikuzentakata, Japan. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

People stand and watch on March 2 what's left of a building in the area devastated by the earthquake and tsunami, in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Men offer prayers on March 2 in front of what's left of the disaster control center in Minamisanriku. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

U.S. Army ship LCU2020, with mock stranded commuters on board, leaves a pier during an anti-disaster drill as their part to assist evacuees, in Tokyo on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)

Junior high school students walk home after school on March 2 Minamisanriku. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

A car drives through the leveled city of Minamisanriku, Japan, on Feb. 23. While the streets are free of rubble, rebuilding has barely begun, leaving those who remain anxious about what the future holds. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra offers floral tributes Thursday on "Hiyori Yama," or Weather Hill, in a neighborhood destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

A man walks in a destroyed neighborhood Thursday in Natori. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. and members of media on Feb. 20 look at TEPCO's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant outside of the bus during a press tour in Fukushima prefecture. (AP Photo/Issei Kato, Pool)

Crippled Unit 4 reactor building of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is seen in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, on Feb. 28. (AP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno, Pool)

Destroyed unit 3 reactor building of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is seen on Feb. 20. (AP Photo/Issei Kato, Pool)

Damage of tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station building is seen through a bus window during a press tour led by officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Feb. 28. (AP Photo/Kimimasa Mayama, Pool)

A boy runs in the snow-covered compound of a temporary housing complex in Fukushima, Japan, on Feb. 26. The complex is for people whose houses are located in the 12.5-mile official no-go exclusion zone from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

One-year-old girl Rin Yokota, right, and her grandmother Tomiko Igari, 63, walk in the compound of their temporary housing in Otama village. As many of the 100,000 people who have been evacuated from the no-go zone still live in the similar housing complex in Fukushima. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

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