Japan commemorates devastating earthquake: ‘after ten years of so much pain’

The tsunami of 10 years ago was commemorated in Japan. The disaster began with a severe earthquake at sea, which triggered the tsunami. Large parts of the country have been affected. In Fukushima, where a large nuclear power plant was located, it led to a nuclear disaster.

“The word commemoration evokes something from the past, but for many survivors the disaster is still a part of today,” says NOS correspondent Kjeld Duits in News OUR Radio 1. Bodies are still found and 2,500 people are missing. “There is still so much pain, so much pain.”

Still emotionally heavy

The tsunami that followed the earthquake, which was more than ten meters high in places, claimed the lives of more than 18,000 people. The disaster area covered an expanse of coastline of several hundred kilometers; towns and entire towns have been wiped out. The water came so fast that many people could not escape. German: “The moving cars were overtaken by the tsunami.”

Many people still have emotional difficulties according to German. “There is a man in the disaster area who had lost a family member before the disaster. He had such a hard time with it that he set up an old phone booth in his yard, with a phone unplugged to talk to. this relative has opened his garden in Otsuchu so that everyone can use this phone. “