Anguish and Hope

A woman in Kesennuma, Japan, visits the rubble of the village where she had her home. The area was destroyed in the tsunami that followed the massive earthquake that struck March 11 off Japan. As the death toll continues to rise, the country is struggling to contain a potential nuclear meltdown after the Fukushima Daiichi plant was seriously damaged in the disaster.  (Paula Bronstein / Getty Images)

Tatsuhiro Karino and his wife, Masako Karino, grieve over the body of their son, Tetsuya, age 11. Their daughter, Misaki, 8, was still missing. More than 80 students and 10 teachers died at Ookawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Japan, when the tsunami swept through the school.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Women look for names of survivors listed on boards at a victims assistance center in Sendai, Japan.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Toshiyuki Momma and daughter Rino, 5, wait along with hundreds of other Japanese for the Itoyokado supermarket to open in Sendai.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Meguni Sasaki and husband Satoru Sasaki, both 36, return to their neighborhood in Kamihachi to collect what few possessions they can find. About a quarter of a mile away from the original location of their home, they found the house’s second floor, as well as their couch. “This used to be in our living room,” Meguni Sasaki said. “It was so expensive.”  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A spoiled photo album lies in the mud near the home of the Otomo family after their Sendai neighborhood was destroyed by the earthquake and tsumani that struck Japan.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that has devastated Japan, a woman helps her mother retrieve a few belongings out of the family home in the Natori neighborhood of Sendai as crews continue to look for bodies in the rubble.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A 63-year-old Japanese woman brushes debris off a portrait of her father, which was hanging amid the ruins of her Natori home.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Japanese earthquake refugee Yoshie Sasaki has a meal of rice in the gym at Yamaguchi Elementary School in Miyako.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The extended Shinkawa family fled Fukushima to escape the threat of nuclear contamination from the reactors damaged by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Yoko Shinkawa, 75, plays with her grandson Rye Shinkawa, 5, on the mats in the gymnasium at the Mayamgata Sports Center in Yamagata.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Watanoha Elementary School in Ishinomaki, Japan, is home to about 1,000 people after the earthquake and tsunami.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Residents of Fukushima are screened for radiation as they check into a center for displaced people. Yukiko Fushimi gets checked along with her two grandchildren, but none of them show elevated levels of radiation.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Men warm themselves as they do guard duty at an evacuation center in Sendai. Several hundred people were staying there after their homes were destroyed.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)