You’d have to be heartless not to feel something for the people of Japan after looking at these photos.

This photo captures the Japanese city of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture as it was in 1992 (bottom) while the version on the top shows the city just days after the natural disaster that continues to affect the country in the worst of ways.

Many of these images were released just today, so we thought we’d share them with you. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan and their friends and family elsewhere.

This photo was taken by a Miyako city official as the Tsunami hit.