General News

Photographs: Prayers for 2011 Quake Victims

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:51 JST, March 11, 2025

Prayers and flowers were offered at cenotaphs Tuesday, the day the Great East Japan Earthquake struck 14 years ago.

Office worker Haruki Chiba placed flowers on a stand at Takatamatsubara Memorial Park for Tsunami Disaster in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.

Chiba lost his uncle and a high school friend to the tsunami caused by the earthquake. He goes to the park every year to remember them, he said.

March 11 is Chiba’s own birthday, but “all I can think about on that day is the disaster. I only notice that I’ve gotten older in the evening.”

Three employees of the fire department in Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture, also came to the floral tribute stand. They fought the large wildfire in neighboring Ofunato, which burned the surrounding areas for more than 10 days. It was announced on Sunday that the fire had been contained.

“I hope we can help this community through our firefighting activities,” one of the employees said.

A woman prays at a tsunami-ravaged building formerly used as the disaster prevention countermeasures office in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on Tuesday.
A man prays for his brother, who was killed by the tsunami, on a ship off Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Tuesday.
The “miracle pine tree” that survived the tsunami is seen standing in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, on Tuesday morning.