News | The Aftermath of Japan 9.0 Earthquake and Devastating Tsunami

Rescuers conduct search operation amidst smoldering debris in Kesennuma, northern Japan.

The devastating tsunami that followed the 9.0-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc along a huge stretch of Japan's north-east coast on 11 March 2011. Sweeping far inland about 10km and devastating a number of towns and villages.

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members search for the victims.

Evacuees rest in a shelter in Soma city, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011, three days after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the country's north east coast. On top of the losses of family and friends along with property, evacuees in the area are now faced with the fears of radiation contamination from damaged nuclear facilities near by.

A destroyed landscape is pictured in Otsuchi town, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan.

Strong and powerful aftershocks persist in the stricken area. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.1 jolted the Tokyo area at about 5am yesterday, public broadcaster NHK said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued.

Japan Self-Defense Force's members conduct search operation in Otsuchi, Iwate, northern Japan.

Firefighters work during a search operation in the rubble of buildings in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011, three days after a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami hit the country's east coast.

People walk a road between the rubble of destroyed buildings in Minamisanriku town, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan,

Death toll expected to exceed 10,000 from the quake and tsunami, public broadcaster NHK says. About 2,000 bodies found on two shores of Miyagi prefecture, Kyodo news agency reports.

Authorities have set up a 20km (12-mile) exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant and a 10km (6 mile) zone around Fukushima Daini.

About 450,000 people evacuated nationwide in addition to 80,000 from the exclusion zone around the nuclear power plants.Almost 2 million households are without power in the freezing north and about 1.4 million households have no running water.