Satellite Images of Japan Before and After Earthquake
In Japan over 10,000 are feared dead after a massive earthquake and a tsunami swept the northeastern coast. As nuclear explosions continue to rock the earthquake-stricken country, the magnitude of the devastation and flooding is extensive. View Japan's northeastern coast in satellite images, before and after the destruction. The natural color, high-resolution images show entire neighborhoods swept away by the waves. Airports and farmland are inundated, cargo depots have been turned into piles of rubble, and damaged nuclear facilities appear as apocalyptic shells.
Land in Yuriage, Natori, Japan, gets overtaken by water. In the top left corner, what used to be green land is now one mass of water.
Japan's Sendai Airport was nearly destroyed by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake which triggered the tsunami. March 2011 photos (bottom) show that the runway and other airport infrastructure have been completely washed out.
A section of Terashima in Sendai, Japan is now surrounded by water instead of prosperous green land.
You can practically see the waves overtaking land in the after photo (bottom) of Yagawahama, Japan.
Any green farm land in Yamoto, Sendai (top) has since been turned to pools of water.
A main town in Sendai, Japan now lies without houses, vegetation, or infrastructure.
The latest crisis in Japan is the meltdown of nuclear reactors. At the Fukushima II Plant, water rests inland, flooding the power plant.
Much of Kashima, part of Minamisoma, Japan, is now under water, contrasting with the 2003 image shown above it.
The Iwanuma-Matsushima area shown here has been completely wiped out by the earthquake and flooding, shown by the brown portion of the satellite image.
The Oshika Peninsula on the shoreline of Iigohama was once blue, green, and budding with life. Now (bottom) the area has been devastated by the tsunami floods.
