Robert, a School Reporter from Open Academy in Norwich, received these pictures from his aunt, Taeko, who lives in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, which was hit hard by the recent earthquake and tsunami
The fires near Chiba raged through the night following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the eastern coast of Japan
According to an interview on National Public Radio, Richard Gross, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory calculated that the quake may have shortened a day by 1.26 microseconds and shifted Earth's axis by about 6.5 inches
The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is still rising. Lisa, Robert's mother said, "It's very hurtful for them. They are sensitive as many people have died. They are really sad."
The World Bank estimates it could take up to five years for Japan to recover economically with the disaster causing at least �145bn in damage
The tsunami that ravaged coastal areas in Japan flooded areas further away from the sea
The earthquake, one of the largest recorded, has tested Japan's building construction, often regarded as the world's best in earthquake resistance. Robert said, "I feel that they are lucky because they didn't get hit as badly as other places."
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