TOKYO: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led a sombre ceremony Sunday as Japan marked the seventh anniversary of a deadly earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that devastated its northeastern coast and left around 18,500 people dead or missing. The killer tsunami also swamped the emergency power supply at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, sending its reactors into meltdown as cooling systems failed in what was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) bows to Prince Akishino (2nd R) and Princess Kiko (R) during the seventh national memorial service for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Tokyo March 11, 2018. Japan marked on March 11 the seventh anniversary of a deadly earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster which devastated its northeastern coast and left about 18,500 people dead or missing. The total of dead or missing from the earthquake and the tsunami stood at 18,434 people, according to the National Police Agency.

Source: New Strait Times March 11, 2018 09:22 UTC