Images showing the current transition and recovery of disaster areas in the Tohoku region and elsewhere can now be viewed on Google Inc.’s Street View feature in its Google Maps online service.
Google updated its Street View shots on March 2 for parts of Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures that were devastated by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
The updates show how recovery is proceeding--sometimes slowly and other times more drastic, especially in coastal areas--along roads and streets five years after the disaster.
The updates are for 59 cities, 19 towns and four villages in the four prefectures. Google surveyed the sites between June 2015 and January 2016.
Street View shows how a boat that became landlocked in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, has been removed since its last update in 2013.
Images from areas that were previously under restricted access due to evacuation orders were also added, including images of Naraha Junior High School in Fukushima Prefecture that were shot by the Naraha town government employees.