JAPAN on Wednesday marked 15 years since a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck the country’s northeastern areas and triggered a nuclear crisis, with survivors expressing ongoing pain as they called for the memories and lessons from the catastrophe to be passed down to future generations.
The triple disasters of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, resulting tsunami and meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, the world’s worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis, led to the loss of more than 22,000 lives. The plant’s operator is still struggling to dismantle the damaged facilities by 2051.
People across the country observed a moment of silence at 2:46 pm, the exact time the earthquake struck the region on 11 March 2011. Prime Minister Sanae Taka ichi attended a memorial service hosted by Fukushima Prefecture, offering her condolences and expressing hope for further efforts for recovery in the area as well as in disaster prevention. The central government stopped hosting memorial services in Tokyo in 2022.
Kyodo
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