In April 2011, Engineering News-Record’s Tom Sawyer headed to Japan, where he spent a week reporting on the aftermath of the March 11 quake and tsunami. Here, we feature his firsthand accounts.

• Japan Addresses Disaster By Adding Resiliency
• Train to Sendai Rolls Through a Depopulated Land
• Yet Again, A Learning Moment for Civil Engineers

Photo courtesy U.S. Navy/Wikipedia

• Shigeru Ban Offers Aid to His Native Japan
• Global Pecha Kucha Event To Inspire Japan
• Architects Eager to Help Devastated Japan
• Update on Ito’s Mediatheque in Sendai
• Reassessing Japan’s Design Priorities
• The Immediate Aftermath: Comments from Japanese Architects
• Dispatches from Japan

Photo courtesy John Pawson

Q&A: Urban Planner André Sorensen on Rebuilding Challenges in Japan
André Sorensen, author of The Making of Urban Japan, is an urban geographer at the University of Toronto. He recently spoke to RECORD about what Japan’s five-year, $180 billion rebuilding effort should entail.

Photo courtesy André Sorensen

Humanitarian Design
In recent years, architects have increasingly contributed their skills to charitable projects. In our special Humanitarian Design section, read about work by Shigeru Ban, Teddy Cruz, Francis Kéré, Architecture for Humanity, Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, and others.

Photo © Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk