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10 years on from Japan’s tragedy - 17th March 2021

At 2.46pm on 11th March, 2021, Japan fell silent. It marked the exact moment when an earthquake had struck 10 years earlier, in 2011.

The earthquake caused a tsunami which destroyed Japan's northeast coast.

Across Japan, people reflected with sadness. They laid flowers on graves and wrote letters to missing family, which they then dropped in the ocean.

Tomoi Ogi reflected on the day’s events.

Tomoi Ogi: "I don’t know why, but I felt a lot more emotional this morning than I was at each of the past anniversaries. Maybe I’m getting old. I woke up and watched TV, and then I was thinking to myself: 'Oh, it has been really 10 years.' It feels long, but it also feels short."

At the time, around 16,000 people lost their lives. Most were victims of the tsunami's unstoppable force. 2,500 remain missing and the search for relatives continues to this day. At Fukushima power station, the tsunami triggered a nuclear meltdown. Radiation escaped from the facility and, as a result, nearby towns became uninhabitable. More than 40,000 local people are still not allowed to return home.

Due to its location, Japan faces an unusually high number of natural disasters. However, in the 10 years since the tsunami, it has made numerous preparations for the future. On the coast, large sea walls have been constructed and escape plans have been improved.

The disaster also caused Japan to shut its nuclear power stations. While the clean-up at Fukushima itself is partly complete, the site is a dead zone and its future remains unclear.

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