From physical labor and handing out supplies in the disaster zone to raising funds and awareness from home, the events of March. 11, 2011, inspired countless people — regardless of nationality — to act.

About 960,000 people including a number of expats volunteered in the hardest-hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, according to nonprofit Japan National Council of Social Welfare.

Ten years on, some have found that the experience has stayed with them, along with the importance of helping each other out in times of devastation.