From Boston.com

Dozens of people, including children, were killed in Japan when destructive landslides hit Hiroshima. Triggered by torrential rains, the landslide buried people alive as they slept in their homes. The search for survivors in the mud-ravaged hillside continues as over 50 people are feared missing. –Leanne Burden Seidel (26 photos total)

1 This aerial view shows the damage caused by a landslide after heavy rains hit the city of Hiroshima, western Japan, on August 20. At least 39 people were killed and another many were still missing after a huge landslide engulfed homes in western Japan. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)

2 Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) soldiers and police officers carry the body of a victim in a plastic bag at a site where a landslide swept through a residential area at Asaminami ward in Hiroshima, western Japan, August 20. #

3 Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) soldiers search for survivors at a site where a landslide swept through a residential area at Asaminami ward in Hiroshima, western Japan, August 20. (Toru Hanai/Reuters) #

4 Rescue workers search for survivors in an area devastated by a massive landslide which swept through residential areas in Hiroshima, western Japan, Aug. 20. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

5 High school boys watch rescue workers search for their missing classmate after a massive landslide swept through residential areas in Hiroshima, Aug. 20. (Kyodo News/Associated Press)#

6 Japan’s Ground Self Defence Force’s rescue workers try to make a route at a landslide site in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, August 21. About 2,500 rescuers searched for survivors a day after landslides killed 39 people in western Japan following torrential rain, a report said. Seven people were still missing after more than 200 millimetres of rain in three hours pounded the northern part of Hiroshima city. (KIMIMASA MAYAMA/EPA) #

7 Fire fighters and Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) soldiers search for survivors at a site where a landslide swept through a residential area in Hiroshima, August 22. Heavy rain delayed a search on Friday for more than 50 people believed buried under a deadly landslide on the edge of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, as opposition politicians rounded on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his handling of the disaster. (Toru Hanai/Reuters) #

8 Houses are heavily damaged after a massive landslide swept through residential areas in Hiroshima, Aug. 20. (Shingo Nishizume/Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

9 A police officer searches for survivors at a site where a landslide swept through a residential area at Asaminami ward in Hiroshima, August 21. (Toru Hanai /Reuters)

10 Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) soldiers search for survivors in the dusk at a site in Hiroshima, western Japan, August 20. (Toru Hanai /Reuters) #

For more on this story and to see more images go to: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2014/08/landslides_hit_japan.html