Abandoned hotels, piles of radioactive waste and deserted homes: Disaster tourists snap haunting photos of Japanese region destroyed by earthquake and tsunami

• In March 2011, an earthquake rippled through northeast Japan, followed by a devastating and deadly tsunami
• While much of the area has been rebuilt, there are vast swathes of the countryside that are still destroyed 
• Abandoned houses and hotels litter the countryside, and piles of radioactive waste is stored in rubbish bags 

Disaster tourists are flocking to a region in northeast Japan that has failed to recover nearly five years after a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami wreaked devastation and led to the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The coastal Miyagi area was worst hit by the tsunami, which left more than 15,000 dead and a few thousand more missing, and areas such as Matsushima managed to recover relatively quickly - with businesses reopening within a few months.
But other parts of Miyagi's coast have struggled and are a continuing reminder of quick how destructive the natural disaster was and how many lives were lost or ruined.

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