A nation pauses as Japan bows its head to remember 18,500 killed by tsunami

Japan paused on Friday to mark five years since an earthquake spawned a monster tsunami that left 18,500 people dead and sparked the worst nuclear disaster in a quarter of a century. Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, prime minister Shinzo Abe and others at a national ceremony in Tokyo bowed their heads at the time on March 11, 2011 when the magnitude 9.0 quake struck under the Pacific Ocean. In the northern city of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture –the worst-affected region – survivors and bereaved family members gathered at a Buddhist statue built for the repose of victims’ souls. Some joined hands in prayer, while a woman threw a bouquet of flowers into the sea.

I feel pain in my heart when I think of people who still could not return home

Emperor Akihito

The earthquake unleashed a giant wall of water that swallowed schools and neighbourhoods, with unforgettable images of panicked residents fleeing to higher ground and vehicles and ships bobbing in the swirling waters of flooded towns. The waves also swamped power supplies at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, causing reactor meltdowns that released radiation in the most dangerous nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. Some areas remain uninhabitable, although in others residents have been cleared to return.

There is an expression: the hammering sound of reconstruction. That’s how I feel, I sense the emphasis has shifted.

Masaki Kamei, a doctor from Tokyo, sees life returning to normal in the worst-hit areas

fukushima