US Navy off the Coast of Japan

This post again features US Navy public domain pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan two weeks ago. If you visited this blog after the earthquake in Haiti last year, you’ll note a number of differences. There aren’t many on the ground pictures from Japan, or pictures of survivors and search and rescue or recover activities, compared to those we saw last year.

One thing I learned from these pictures that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere is that the  Department of Defense facilitated a voluntary departure of Department of Defense dependents. I’m not clear how many people were involved, but there are a number of pictures of families departing Japan and arriving at various US cities at the US Navy’s Eye on the Fleet website, the source of all these images and captions, suggesting that a lot of folks understandably have taken advantage of this program. The second picture here shows another scene peculiar to this disaster –  sailors scrubbing the decks of the ship in case of radiation contamination.

111803-N-BR887-007 YOKOSUKA, Japan (March 18, 2011) The child of a U.S. Navy Sailor waits for transportation out of Yokosuka. Navy families voluntarily returning to the United States spend the afternoon waiting in line to register for travel. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Juan Manuel Pinalez/Released)

110323-N-DM338-113 PACIFIC OCEAN (March 22, 2011) Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) conduct a countermeasure wash down on the flight deck. Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Nicholas A. Groesch/Released)

US Navy Images of Devastation in Japan

Last year I found that the US Navy News Service: Eye on the Fleet was a good source for public domain images of the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake. I returned to that site tonight; here are a few examples of the growing collection of images from Japan. Captions are copied from that site.

110313-N-SB672-164 PACIFIC OCEAN (March 13, 2011) A Japanese home is seen adrift in the Pacific Ocean. Ships and aircraft from the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are searching for survivors in the coastal waters near Sendai, Japan. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan McCord/Released)

110313-N-5503T-176 PACIFIC OCEAN (March 13, 2011) An aerial view of debris from an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck northern Japan. The debris was inspected by a helicopter-based search and rescue team from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Ships and aircraft from the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are searching for survivors in the coastal waters near Sendai, Japan. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd/Released)

CIA World Factbook Photos, 7: Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines, South Korea, Japan

Incense coils, Man Mo Temple, Hong Kong

With this lovely picture of what must be a most fragrant temple, we begin our last stop in the Asian stretch of the public domain pictures of the world series taken from the nations’ pages in the CIA World Factbook.

Hong Kong

Leal Senado (Loyal Senate) building [right], Senate Square, Macau

Macau is. like Hong Kong,  a “special administrative region of China.” The CIA Factbook explains:

Colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century, Macau was the first European settlement in the Far East. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and Portugal on 13 April 1987, Macau became the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China on 20 December 1999. In this agreement, China promised that, under its “one country, two systems” formula, China’s socialist economic system would not be practiced in Macau, and that Macau would enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.

Location of Macau is marked with a dot on the regional map.

The Chocolate Hills: A few of the nearly 1,300 cone-shaped hills found in a 50 square kilometer area near Bohol, Philippines

The “Bridge of No Return” in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea used for prisoner exchanges when Korean War ended.

Gyeongbokgung royal palace, Seoul, South Korea

Mount Fuji, Japan

Imperial Palace and Nijubashi Bridge, Tokyo, Japan