The 2nd Year Anniversary of The Disaster

As a Japanese from Sendai, Miyagi, never forget that the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. I still get choked up thinking about it. I had been there. I remembered that we were shivering with cold and the constant aftershocks, staring at a light of candle and listening to a radio. We wrapped ourselves in blankets at night, but we were frozen to the bones. Overnight into the following morning, radio news said that about 200-300 apparently dead bodies were confirmed from a helicopter. It was really nightmare, but that was just the beginning. We were overwhelmed with despair in our slightly-inclined and cracked house, but we had tried to think we were happy, if we thought a great number of people who lost precious people and possessions. A few days after the earthquake, I knew what happened in the waterfront area by pictures. It was after all over the world people became a witness on TV or in newspapers.

Now I live in the UK. I don't need to worry about an earthquake, but I always care about my family and relatives in Japan. Like that day, it's snowing outside here. May your soul rest in peace.

• At least 20,851 people died or remain missing. (Includes the confirmed number of dead, 15,881, those who are missing, 2,668, and 2,303 others who subsequently died).
• About 315,000 people were still living in temporary housing at the end of February 2013. There are plans to eventually build 23,000 public housing units in 8 prefectures for those who are unable to rebuild their homes. But only 84 units were completed as of February 2013.
• Work to decontaminate buildings that were affected by radiation from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has also been delayed. Local municipalities have only managed to remove radiation from 19.7 percent of about 179,000 households.
• A significant population decline in the hardest hit areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.

(Source; NHK)

• http://www.nhk.or.jp/japan311/index.html