Japan Tsunami Pictures: Nuclear Reactor and Cities Burn

Japan Soldiers On

Photograph by AFP/Getty Images

A Japanese soldier carries an elderly man on his back Saturday to a shelter in Natori city, one of the hardest hit by Friday's earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Some 300,000 people have been evacuated from earthquake-damaged areas, including 80,000 living near the damaged Fukushima I nuclear reactor.

The evacuation zone around the Fukushima I nuclear reactor was widened to 12 miles (20 kilometers) Saturday. "There is radiation leaking out, and since the possibility (of exposure) is high, it's quite scary," 17-year-old Masonori Ono told Reuters.

(Get the facts on nuclear reactors.)

Published March 12, 2011

After the Floods, Fire

Photograph by Yomiuri Shimbun, AFP/Getty Images

Flattened buildings smolder in an aerial picture of the Japanese town of Yamada on Saturday, the day after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami hit the region. Hundreds of bodies have been pulled from the wreckage, and thousands remain missing.

The earthquake, the largest in Japan's history, struck off the coast of Sendai at 2:46 p.m., local time, on Friday. Minutes later the town was hit by tsunami waves up to three stories tall. (Get tsunami facts.)

(Related: Could Seattle suffer a similar earthquake? Find out on Mega Quake, airing Sunday, March 13, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel in the U.S.)

Published March 12, 2011

Post-Quake Desperation, Writ Large

Photograph by Yomiuri Shimbun, AFP/Getty Images

A plea for help fills a school playing field in the port town of Minamisanriku in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture on Saturday. About 7,500 people have been evacuated to shelters since the earthquake and tsunami, the BBC reported. (Video: Tsunami 101.)

International disaster-relief teams have been dispatched to Japan, with the United Nations helping coordinate the effort. U.S. President Obama has pledged one U.S. aircraft carrier to join another already in the region.

(Get the inside story of how nations rally to aid others after earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters.)

Published March 12, 2011

Tsunami's Sea of Cars

Photograph by Kyodo/Reuters

A fire truck attends to burned-out cars at the Hitachi Harbor port northeastern Japan on Saturday.

Japan's three largest automobile manufactures – Toyota, Honda, and Nissan – have announced they will temporarily halt production at all domestic assembly plants following the earthquake and tsunami. Sony announced a shutdown as well, according to the Telegraph newspaper.

The full economic toll of the earthquake and tsunamiwon't be known for days, but analysts say the disaster could threaten nation's nascent economic recovery, the AFP news service reported.

(Related: "Earthquake Fault Under Tokyo Closer Than Expected, Study Finds.")

Published March 12, 2011

Containing the Damage

Photograph by Itsuo Inouye, Associated Press

Tsunami-tossed cargo containers litter the ground Saturday in Sendai, Japan, where the local airport was nearly completely flooded by Friday's three-story-tall wave.

Limited air traffic resumed at major Japanese airports on Saturday, but most were packed with stranded passengers, the Los Angeles Timesearthquake is, but I've never seen anything like this," Seven Nia, a Los Angeles businessperson, told the paper. reported. "I'm from California, so I can recognize what an

More: See Japan earthquake pictures from Friday, including a three-story-tall tsunami >>

Published March 12, 2011