Japan Tsunami remembered 5 years on

Japan is marking the fifth anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that left more than 18 thousand dead or missing. 

A minute's silence will be held across Japan exactly at the time the quake hit.  

Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito wil offer flowers at a memorial ceremony in Tokyo.  

The magnitude-9.0 quake struck offshore, creating a vast water surge that devastated Japan's north-east.  

It also triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, after the tsunami knocked out power to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, taking cooling systems offline, which set off a series of meltdowns.  

The subsequent disaster spewed radiation over a wide area and forced the evacuation of more than 160 thousand local people. 

Most of them have not been able to return to their homes, despite extensive decontamination work.


BBC