A man walks through debris as the Japanese national flag flies on June 12, 2011 in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that nearly leveled Japan on March 11 was the biggest to ever hit the small island nation. The tsunami that followed was felt from Chile to Alaska, wiping out entire Japanese towns.  Over 20,000 lives were claimed and hundreds of thousands more were displaced due to the level 7 nuclear meltdown of three reactors in Fukushima, Japan. The following photographs were taken during the week of June 12, 2011, the three-month anniversary of the disaster.

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A few half-destroyed buildings still stand in the tsunami-hit area in Otsuchi. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a news conference that the disaster was the "toughest and most difficult crisis for Japan" in the 65 years following World War II.

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The remnants of leveled homes, boats, and other debris near the coast city of Otsuchi. Around 90,000 Japanese are still living in evacuation centers.

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A man wearing a mask cycles past the debris in Otsuchi. 

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A construction worker carries a ladder as he works on temporary houses for evacuees in Otsuchi. 

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A man cycles through the tsunami-hit area in Natori, Miyagi.

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Trucks drive past piles of rubble in Natori.

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Heavy machinery is used to remove the debris in Natori.

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Residents who lived within a 20-kilometer area of a stricken nuclear power plant offer prayers for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, in Namie, Fukushima prefecture on May 26, 2011. The residents were allowed to return home only briefly after the Japanese government imposed a no-entry zone on April 21.

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Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato holds an umbrella while Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko offer prayers during a visit to a tsunami-devastated area in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on May 11, 2011. Two months after Japan's quake and tsunami catastrophe sparked a nuclear disaster, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko also visited evacuees from the radiation zone.

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Debris is scattered in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

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People overlook the tsunami-hit area in Natori.

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Rubble in the tsunami's path in Otsuchi.

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The frame of the destroyed Minamisanriku City Hall Disaster Prevention Center in Minamisanriku, Miyagi.

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