Japan marks second tsunami anniversary in moment of silence
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Buy SPH photosISHINOMAKI (Japan) (AFP) - Japan on Monday marked the second anniversary of a ferocious tsunami that claimed nearly 19,000 lives and sparked the worst nuclear accident in a generation.
The government will host a national ceremony in Tokyo, attended by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, to mourn 15,881 people who died and 2,668 others who remain unaccounted for.
They and the rest of the nation will observe a moment of silence, the moment a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck on March 11, 2011, in waters off the northeastern Pacific coast.
The jolt unleashed a killer tsunami that swallowed coastal communities and battered the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which went through meltdowns and explosions in what was to become the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
