Japan marks fifth anniversary of tsunami disaster
March 11, Tokyo: People in Japan are marking the fifth anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that left more than 18,000 dead or missing.
The magnitude-9.0 earth quake struck offshore, creating a vast water surge that devastated Japan's north-east.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito will offer flowers at a memorial ceremony in Tokyo. A minute's silence will be held across Japan at 2:46pm, the time the quake hit, reports said.
It also triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, after the tsunami knocked out power to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
plant, taking cooling systems offline, which set off a series of meltdowns, BBC reported.
The subsequent disaster spewed radiation over a wide area and forced the evacuation of more than 160,000 local people. Most of them have not been able to return to their homes, despite extensive decontamination work.
The Oslo Times