More than three thousand people died a year ago in Ishinomaki City, a small fishing port northeast of Sendai. It was the city with the highest toll of any town hit by the tsunami. (Photo Sam Eaton)
The massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011 has caused the greatest crisis in that country since the second world war. With towns wiped off the map, 20,000 dead or missing and an ongoing nuclear nightmare around the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the disaster has already cost billions and displaced tens of thousands, and will reverberate far into Japan’s future.