The most powerful images of 2011

As we get close to the middle of 2012, it's now a good time to recall some big events from 2011, and as usual, a picture is worth more than a thousand words.

A whirpool forms off the Japanese coast after the tsunami on March 11

This sightseeing boat, Hama Yuri, was pulled 1300 feet from the coast and somehow balanced itself on a two story house during the tsunami in Japan

Members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1

A before and after shot of Joplin, Missouri after a massive tornado on May 22

A monstrous dust storm (Haboob) roared through Phoenix, Arizona in July

Slain Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson’s dog “Hawkeye” lays next to his casket during funeral services in Rockford, Iowa. Tumilson was one of 30 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan on August 6 when their helicopter was shot down during a mission to help fellow troops who had come under fire

Cars are abandoned on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive during the “Snowpocalypse” in February

Mihag Gedi Farah, a seven-month-old child, is held by his mother in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee in the town of Dadaab, Kenya. The baby has since made a full recovery

A U.S. Army soldier takes five with an Afghan boy during a patrol in Pul-e Alam, a town in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan

Robert Peraza, who lost his son Robert David Peraza in 9/11, pauses at his son’s name at the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial.