Mar 11 (NHK) - People in Fukushima Prefecture paid tribute to the victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami on the 7th anniversary of the disaster on Sunday.
Bereaved families and friends offered prayers in front of a cenotaph built next to a memorial in a coastal area in the city of Soma. It bears the names of 458 people who died in the tsunami.
A man in his 80s said he lost a brother and friends to the tsunami. He said he wishes they had escaped and were still alive. He said it was the first tsunami he experienced and that he did not expect it to cause so much damage.
A woman in her 70s said her relatives were killed in the tsunami. She expressed hope that people will soon be able to live with a sense of normalcy.
