Photo Gallery Crisis in Japan
Japanese authorities worked to cool dangerously overheating fuel rods at the Fukushima nuclear plant Thursday. Military helicopters dumped water until a new power line could be built to restore cooling systems.
Earlier, though -- on Wednesday -- helicopters and staff had to be temporarily withdrawn due to fears of spiking radiation levels.
U.S. authorities said they believed water levels were low or nonexistent at at least one pool storing spent fuel rods, meaning radiation would be leaking into the atmposhere. The Japanese denied this.
Snow and cold temperatures added to the Japanese people's misery Thursday. In Minamisanriku, military forces searched rubble for survivors.
The search wasn't limited to destroyed buildings. On Wednesday, officials also combed the banks of a river, looking for bodies.
The U.S. government offered assistance from a naval group sitting offshore. An American helicopter crewman (right) used a translation card on Wednesday to ask a man what supplies or assistance were needed.
Japan's domestic Self-Defense Force used a hovercraft to bring supplies to Ishinomaki, in northern Japan.
Many ports were devastated by the earthquake and tusnami, including this one in Sendai.
Although villages in Otsuchi in northern Japan had sea walls, they were not enough to prevent the horrors unleashed by the tsunami.
All the water from the tsunami couldn't prevent some fires. One raged at the Sendai port on Thursday.
Cars piled on top of each other at Sendai's port.
Sendai's airport was almost completely flooded and had to suspend operations.
Though surrounded by rubble, the roads were clear in Kesnnuma, which a man rode through on his bicycle.
Many Japanese companies faced serious losses from the catastophe, including Sony, which owns this warehouse at Sendai's port.
A woman who stands on a flooded street Thursday, near her destroyed house. Among the hardest hit were the elderly, fourteen of whom died after being evacuated from a hospital and into a shelter in Iwaki, the government.
In Otsuchi, workers worked to service a communication tower. In some parts of Japan, cell phone service was provided for free so victims could more easily contact their loved ones.
Only military or aid vehicles were allowed on many roads and highways in the hardest hit areas. People who wanted to drive faced long lines for gas.
There were also long lines at supermarkets in Sendai, as people tried to find food.
But once they got inside, shelves were often empty.
Tokyo is about 238 km (148 miles) from the Fukushima reactors, but Tokyo's Narita airport filled up with foreigners as well as Japanese who wanted to be far from the trouble.
The tsunami sometimes forced boats and ships far inland. In Ofunato, a sailboat ended up in the middle of town.
Somehow life went on for families and children. These kids were busy drawing pictures at a school gymnasium being used as a center for displaced people in Ofunato on Wednesday.
The national government said every available rescue worker had been mobilized. These Japanese military members were busy clearing debris in Ofunato on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, victims were also working on cleaning up debris themselves.
Foreign workers, including these rescuers in Ofunato on Wednesday, streamed into Japan to help out.
As snow fell on Wednesday, rescue workers marched to conduct operations at a devastated factory.
Japanese military authorities were hard at work in Otsuchi Wednesday, where 12,000 out of a population of 15,000 have disappeared.
The tsunami swept boats from their moorings and cars from their parking places.
A huge fishing boat was pushed by the tsunami from the ocean and onto a road in Kesennuma.
The damage was widespread and all-encompassing in Kesennuma. The full horror could be seen from a local hill.
Tsunami survivors put up notes seeking inforamtion about missing relatives and friends at the entrance of Natori's city hall.
Red flags indicated where bodies could be found in Rikuzentakata on Wednesday.
Once beautiful Japanese homes have been rendered jumbles of trash. Rebuilding could take years. But some survivors said they never wanted to return to their former homes.
Struggling to avoid nuclear catastrophe, teams of government specialists frantically analyzed data on Wednesday.
The Japanese government opened shelters for people evacuated from areas surrounding the Fukushima nuclear reactor. Overall, more than 100,000 have been left homeless from the disaster.
Even shelters provided by authorities were sometimes bitterly cold. At this center in Kesennuma, Yukie Ito (left) tried to comfort her daughter Hana, 8, with grandmother Tamiyo (right).
The search for life was often fruitless. A man looked on Wednesday as U.S. rescue workers looked through a destroyed home in Kamaishi.
