Tag - tsunami

 
 

TSUNAMI

Yoshihito Sasaki at Nijikko no Ie, a facility he set up in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, to provide a safe space for those suffering from severe social withdrawal
JAPAN / Society
Mar 14, 2025
Man's grief over wife and son leads to haven for social recluses
Yoshihito Sasaki sought to fulfill his late wife's wish of providing a safe space for those suffering from severe social withdrawal.
Protesters demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court in Tokyo on Tuesday against court rulings acquitting two former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings over the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2025
Acquittal of two former Tepco executives finalized
Lawyers acting as prosecutors did not file an appeal against the Supreme Court's decision last week that upheld the not-guilty verdicts against the executives.
Bookshelves storing disaster-related documents at the Sendai City Archives in Sendai in February
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2025
Local governments struggle to preserve records of March 2011 disaster
Fourteen years later, securing storage space has become a growing obstacle as the volume of records continues to increase.
People observe a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. on Tuesday in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, when the Great East Japan Earthquake hit 14 years ago. Behind them is a pine tree dubbed "the miracle tree" that survived the tsunami.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 11, 2025
Japan marks 14 years since 3/11 earthquake, with over 27,000 still displaced
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he will pass down the lessons of the disaster to future generations.
Tetsuya Tadano gazes at the school building from the hillside behind Okawa Elementary School on Feb. 7 in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2025
Former students work to turn tsunami-hit elementary school into social hub
One former student felt the school has become increasingly defined solely by the tragedy.
Every year, there is heightened interest in commemorating the 3/11 disaster around the time of the anniversary. But memorial facilities and operators are increasingly struggling to keep their activities going all year round and as time passes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 10, 2025
Preserving the memory of 3/11 is becoming more difficult
Despite a peak in interest around the 3/11 anniversary, disaster memorial facilities and operators are facing mounting challenges in keeping their activities going as time passes.
The Ukedo Elementary School Ruins in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in January. The Fukushima Prefectural Government offers training sessions for new prefectural government recruits to visit the school, the prefecture's sole preserved disaster-hit structure.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025
14 years on, prefectural governments work to pass on lessons to new hires
Many prefectural officials who were involved in front-line operations in the immediate aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami are retiring.
The "Ishinomaki Kokeshi" created by craftsman Takatoshi Hayashi to promote his hometown are not confined to the traditional designs of the simple Japanese wooden dolls.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 3, 2025
Ishinomaki craftsman promotes hometown with unique wooden dolls after 3/11
Starting out as a complete amateur, Takatoshi Hayashi now receives orders from abroad for his “Ishinomaki Kokeshi” as his renown spreads online.
A section of an exterior wall at the Okawa Elementary School Ruins in the city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, fell off last December.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 25, 2025
14 years later, fight to preserve ruins of 3/11 continues
Local governments hope to teach future generations about the destructive nature of the tsunami that followed the March 2011 quake, but the ruins are continuing to erode.
Iwate Gov. Takuya Tasso speaks in a group interview in Morioka on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2025
14 years on, Iwate to ask for continued reconstruction support
"Reviving sources of livelihood is important to enrich the lives of affected people," Gov. Takuya Tasso said in an interview.
Roki Sasaki pitches in a game against the Czech Republic during the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo on March 11, 2023, the 12th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
BASEBALL
Feb 4, 2025
Roki Sasaki's road to glory was paved by ache of a tragedy
Long before he became a pitching phenom and signed a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Roki Sasaki's life was marked by tragedy.
Volunteers place eelgrass seeds on slabs of agar gel with tweezers during an event in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, on Nov. 9.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Seagrass bed restoration work spreads in Miyagi Prefecture
Seagrass and seaweed beds are capturing global attention as they absorb carbon dioxide.
Workers retrieves tsunami buoy Thai 23461 in the Andaman Sea on Nov. 28.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 25, 2024
The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
They form part of a warning system intended to ensure no disaster is as deadly as a huge December 2004 tsunami caused by an earthquake under the Indian Ocean.
Christians take selfies after a Christmas Eve Mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, on Tuesday, ahead of the 20th anniversary of a magnitude 9.1 earthquake that struck the coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, triggering a huge tsunami across the Indian Ocean.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 25, 2024
Blogs to Bluesky: Social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
In two decades, the online social media landscape has experienced a vast change, allowing information — as well as rumor and misinformation — to flow in real time.
Djafaruddin poses for a photograph near the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 19, 2024
'End of the world': Tsunami body collector's torment 20 years on
Whenever the collector passes the spot where he collected those lifeless bodies decades ago, he says it reminds him of his efforts that fateful day.
Muharram Idris, a former commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), near Banda Aceh, Indonesia's Aceh province, on Nov. 22. Idris once led 3,000 men to fight Indonesia's army in separatist Aceh, but now serves as a local official after the legacy of a devastating tsunami two decades ago brought peace to the province.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 19, 2024
'Peace was born': How the 2004 tsunami changed Indonesia's Aceh
The giant waves that engulfed the impoverished province killed tens of thousand — and paved the way for an end to three decades of conflict.
A Tohoku Electric Power official explains the process of loading nuclear fuel into the No. 2 reactor of the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, on Sept. 6.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 27, 2024
Onagawa No. 2 nuclear reactor set for restart amid mixed local reception
Some living around the power plant have expressed understanding for the restart while others are concerned over the possibility of an accident.
A lifeguard waving a tsunami flag during a demonstration
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 4, 2024
Meteorological agency ramps up 'tsunami flag' awareness efforts
Visual communication tools like tsunami flags are critical at swimming beaches, where sound can be obscured by waves and wind.
The Meteorological Agency's Shigeki Aoki speaks a news conference on Tuesday morning about the tsunami advisory.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2024
Advisory lifted after 50 cm tsunami reaches Hachijojima
The advisory had been issued for the Izu and Ogasawara islands following a 5.9 magnitude earthquake.
Naoshi Hirata, chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday evening.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2024
Japan issues first-ever alert over risk of Nankai Trough megaquake
It is believed that the chance of a major earthquake occurring in the Nankai Trough is relatively higher than usual, the weather agency said.

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