Japan marks anniversary of devastating 2011 Tsunami Wednesday March 11,2015

Cities across Japan on Wednesday March 11,2015 have marked the fourth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that left more than 18,000 people dead or missing.

Ceremonies were held in areas hit by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which devastated whole towns and badly damaged a nuclear power plant
At 2.46pm local time - the moment the earthquake struck underwater near the eastern Miyagi prefecture in 2011- tsunami warning alarms rang out again. A national minute's silence followed.
According to Japan's National Police Agency, 15,891 people died in the tragedy, and another 2,584 remain missing. Many were lost when a large tsunami swept the eastern coast after the earthquake.
Some 230,000 people have yet to return to their home towns since the disaster.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended a service in Tokyo with Japan's emperor and empress

 

 Balloons were released in Miyagi prefecture, where the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck

 

A man prays for victims of the March 11, 2011, quake-tsunami disaster at a memorial site in the city of Sendai on Wednesday March 11,2015

 

In front of a banner reading: "Hang in there! Ishinomaki" a toddler and a mother look at candles lit to mark the fourth anniversary of the March 11, 2011 tsunami during a special memorial event for the victims in Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Small clusters of survivors, bundled up against a chilly wind, gathered along Japan's northeast coast Wednesday to remember the nearly 18,000 lives lost in the tsunami

 

A service was held next to a destroyed disaster prevention centre in Minamisanriku

 

Schoolchildren wearing padded hoods to protect them from falling debris sit on a running track during an earthquake simulation exercise at a school in Tokyo on the fourth anniversary of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis in Japan