14 Years On: Prayers Offered at Tsunami-Hit Coastal Areas in Japan

   Rikuzentakata, Iwate Pref., March 11 (Jiji Press)--Prayers were offered from early Tuesday morning for victims of the devastating tsunami that hit coastal areas in the northeastern Japan prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima 14 years ago.
   In a cemetery in the Iwate city of Rikuzentakata, painter Shoichi Owada, 66, prayed for his younger sister, who died in the disaster, in front of her tomb.
   "I remember her on this day every year. May she rest in peace," he said. Owada, who will have a grandchild soon, also said, "I want to tell the child to run up to high ground quickly if an earthquake occurs."
   On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude temblor occurred off the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, unleashing the tsunami. The disaster killed 15,900 people and left over 2,500 missing.
   Standing on a breakwater in the Yoshihama beach in Ofunato, also Iwate, fisherman Kensei Okazaki, 33, reflected on the disaster. He was a university student in Tokyo at the time.

(2025/03/11-17:53)

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