Rescue work begins

In the hours after the initial impact of the earthquake and tsunami, the work of rescuing survivors got under way (above, people in a floating container are rescued from a building in Miyagi Prefecture). The government, led by prime minister Naoto Kan, mobilised the country's military, the Japan Self-Defense Forces, to help in the rescue effort. The rescue work was hampered by the scale of destruction in many areas, with whole towns cut off from contact