It was a photo taken from a helicopter by firefighters in Sendai at 4:09 p.m. on March 11, 2011.
People were evacuating to the rooftop of Arahama Elementary School, as the school and its surrounding area were inundated by black tsunami waters.
That night, TV news ran an urgent bulletin, saying 200 to 300 bodies had been found in the Arahama district of Sendai.