Published March 11, 2016
Friday marks the fifth anniversary of the powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan, swallowing coastal villages, leaving more than 18,000 people dead or missing and devastating large swaths of the country's northeastern coastal area. Some places are still unlivable and require massive reconstruction to restore infrastructure, houses and people's lives. Here's a look, by the numbers, at the March 11, 2011, disaster:
___
15,894: People killed by the tsunami and earthquake.
2,561: People missing and presumed dead.
___
12: Prefectures affected by the disaster out of 47 in Japan.
___
26.3 trillion yen: The budget ($230 billion) earmarked for reconstruction for the first five years.
___
470,000: People evacuated in March 2011.
180,000: People who still have not returned home.
___
121,803: Houses destroyed.
64,988: People still in prefabricated temporary housing.
60: Percent of planned public housing completed.
___
27: Percent of coastline forests intended for tsunami prevention restored.
45: Percent of retailers and companies with sales back to pre-disaster levels.
70: Percent of fishing ports, farmland repaired for reuse.
90: Percent of railway tracks restored.
___
20 million: Foreign tourists visited Japan.
500,000: Foreign tourists visited three tsunami-hit northern prefectures.
___
31 million: Metric tons of debris created by the quake and tsunami.
25 million: Metric tons of debris treated.
13 million: Metric tons recycled as construction materials to build seawalls and ports.
6 million: Metric tons still in temporary storage in Fukushima.
___
Source: Reconstruction Agency
https://www.foxnews.com/world/by-the-numbers-recovering-from-the-tsunami-5-years-on