Image from Japan Meteorological Agency

Three years ago, at 2:46 p.m. local time (10:46 a.m. ET), Japan’s very foundation was rocked by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. The entire island of Honshu shifted eight feet to the east, and portions of the coast near the epicenter dropped nearly three feet, making the resulting tsunami just that much more devastating. The confirmed death toll rose to 15,884 and to this day 2,636 people remain unaccounted for. More than 267,000 Japanese are still displaced, their homes leveled by the quake, washed away in the tsunami, or rendered uninhabitable by the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Substantial progress has been made in the clean-up and rebuilding effort all around the Tōhoku region, but there is still so far to go.

Tokiwa Prefectural Road

Ofunato, Iwate. Image copyright AFP/Getty Images

So today, on the three-year anniversary of the Great Tōhoku Earthquake, I think with sadness of all those who died in the disaster, send up a prayer that the families of all those still missing will find peace, and offer heartfelt encouragement to all those who are waiting for and/or working towards a return to normalcy.

Ganbatte! がんばって!