Japan’s 2011 earthquake anniversary provides an opportunity to look back at the worst natural disaster of 2011 and the individuals it affected. The Huffington Post worked with Tokyo-based writer Robert Michael Poole and photographer Benjamin Parks to put together a series examining the lives of those who lived through the disaster in Ishinomaki, one of the hardest-hit cities both in terms of the number of lives lost and structural damage.

The people they spoke with — from a cab driver to a sake store owner — shared how their lives were changed and how they have set about to rebuild in the years ahead.