March is a grim month for residents of the Tohoku region.
March 3 marked the 85th anniversary of the Sanriku Offshore Earthquake disaster that left more than 3,000 people dead or missing.
March 11 is the anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake that struck the same Pacific coastline in 2011, generating towering tsunami that left about 22,000 dead or missing.
The latter anniversary will likely overshadow memorial events held for the 1933 disaster simply because the catastrophe seven years ago is more recent.
Photo archives kept by The Asahi Shimbun of these two natural disasters are a reminder of the death and destruction that befall the region.
The accompanying slide is a poignant portrayal of local people's seemingly never-ending struggle to rebuild their lives after disaster strikes.