A world apart, a common bond
This special gallery of coupled, similar images from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and recent tornadoes in the U.S. is a testament to humanity — its strengths, its weaknesses and their intersection with its undeniable will to move forward.
Section:Then & Now
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Kyodo News, File
| Associated Press
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Dave Martin, File
| Associated Press
Japan: A woman reacts at the news of her relative's death in an evacuation shelter for survivors of Friday's earthquake and tsunami Tuesday, March 15, 2011, in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
United States: Cullman resident Angela Gray reacts as she waits for help on the steps of the Cullman County Courthouse in Cullman, Ala., Thursday, April 28, 2011. Gray's home was destroyed by a tornado that hit the town.
United States: Cullman resident Angela Gray reacts as she waits for help on the steps of the Cullman County Courthouse in Cullman, Ala., Thursday, April 28, 2011. Gray's home was destroyed by a tornado that hit the town.
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Lee Jin-man, File
| Associated Press
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Butch Dill, File
| Associated Press
Japan: A man searches through the rubble at an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, Monday, April 4, 2011.
United States: Residents search through what is left of their homes Thursday, April 28, 2011 after a tornado hit Pleasant Grove just west of downtown Birmingham, Ala., Wednesday afternoon.
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Eugene Hoshiko, File
| Associated Press
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The Times Daily, Jim Hannon, File
| Associated Press
Japan: Dolls for displaying on the girls' festival day are placed after being found in the rubble at the earthquake and tsunami devastated area in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, Thursday, March 31, 2011.
United States: A doll lies in the rubble of a Phil Campbell, Ala. home that was destroyed by a tornado on Thursday, April 28, 2011.
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Vincent Yu, File
| Associated Press
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Butch Dill, File
| Associated Press
Japan: A survivor watches the destroyed site with a ship sitting in a residential neighborhood after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, Wednesday, March 30, 2011.
United States: Residents search through what is left of their homes after a tornado hit Pleasant Grove just west of downtown Birmingham yesterday afternoon on Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Birmingham, Ala.
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Kyodo News, File
| Associated Press
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Tuscaloosa News, Robert Sutton, File
| Associated Press
Japan: A woman searches through the rubble of her home destroyed in Friday's powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, northern Japan, Sunday, March 13, 2011.
United States: Laura Yerby helps clear through the wreckage of a neighbor's home on Recreation Area Road near the Eagle Cove Marina in Peterson, Ala. on Monday May 2, 2011. Two people lost their lives in the neighborhood.
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Sergey Ponomarev, File
| Associated Press
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The Decatur Daily, Gary Cosby Jr., File
| Associated Press
Japan: A man talks on his cell phone as he sits on a sofa among the rubble in the area devastated by March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the town of Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Saturday, April 23, 2011.
United States: Billy Hughey sits in what is left of his living room floor which was destroyed by Wednesdays, tornado near Tanner, Ala. on Thursday, April 28, 2011.
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David Guttenfelder, File
| Associated Press
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Dave Martin, File
| Associated Press
Japan: An elderly Japanese woman searches for her belongings in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami-destroyed town of Rikuzentakata, northeastern Japan, Monday, March 21, 2011.
United States: Loretta Williams looks over the remains of her mothers tornado ravaged home in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Friday, April 29, 2011. Her mother, two sons and a daughter survived the tornado by hiding in a closet.
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The Yomiuri Shimbun, Daisuke Uragami, File
| Associated Press
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Chattanooga Times Free Press, Angela Lewis, File
| Associated Press
Japan: A woman holding her dog reacts after evacuating following a tsunami warning in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011, three days after a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami hit the country's east coast.
United States: Andy Page cries as he sits with his cat, Ellie, placed in a pet carrier, in his demolished apartment in Trenton, Ga. Thursday, April 28, 2011, after overnight storms hit the North Georgia and Chattanooga, Tenn. area. Page has several cats and Ellie was the last one he was looking for.
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Kyodo News, File
| Associated Press
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Birmingham News, Jeff Roberts, File
| Associated Press
Japan: Sufferers walk through a devastated urban area in Minami Sanriku, Miyagi, northern Japan Sunday, March 13, 2011 after Friday's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
United States: People walk down Magnolia Lane after a tornado touched down in Concord, Ala., outside of Hueytown late Wednesday, April 27, 2011. The damage in the area is extensive with homes and businesses destroyed and people injured.
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Kyodo News, File
| Associated Press
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Rogelio V. Solis, File
| Associated Press
Japan: A wooden cross stands tall among the rubble at a place where a church once stood at Kesennuma, a port town smashed by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami, in northeastern Japan, on Sunday April 24, 2011.
United States: An Easter cross stands before the remains of the Smithville Baptist Church in Smithville, Miss., Thursday, April 28, 2011, following a tornado touchdown Wednesday afternoon that destroyed much of the small community and caused at least 14 deaths.
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David Guttenfelder, File
| Associated Press
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Robert Ray, File
| Associated Press
Japan: Toshiko Suda, 63, right, and her husband Michio Suda, 64, wait to load their few remaining belongings into a truck on Wednesday, March 23, 2011, at the site of their home and seaweed business which was destroyed by the tsunami on March 11, in the town of Minamisanriku, northeastern Japan.
United States: Francine Rollins and Rondrka Long sit amidst the rubble of what was once their neighborhood, Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Massive tornadoes tore a town-flattening streak across the South, killing at least 266 people in six states and forcing rescuers to carry some survivors out on makeshift stretchers of splintered debris.
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