400,000 photos have been restored and returned to victims of the 2011 Japan tsunami
After the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, many people believed their photographs had been washed away forever. But electronics company, Ricoh, has spent the last four years working to return these precious memories to their owners.
The “Save the Memory Project” began in April of 2011, and saw Ricoh working hard to uncover and clean over 400,000 photos swept away by the tsunami. The photographs in question were found at the time of the disaster by the first responders, and volunteers have since spent time cleaning and compiling the images in factories.
Once the photos were finally clean, they were scanned into computers and uploaded to a digital database where those affected by the tsunami could search for and view them. While searching through the thousands of photos organised by region, and categorised by words like “wedding photos” and “children”, people could submit an application to receive the original copy.
The project has officially ended now, but it saw over 90,000 photos returned to people who believed their memories had been washed away.
Image Ricoh