Japan scales back remembrance on 9-year anniversary of triple disaster amid coronavirus fears

More than 15,000 people died in 2011’s powerful earthquake and resulting tsunami, which also caused the nation’s worst nuclear accident

Annual memorial ceremonies have been cancelled as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requested large gatherings be called off to prevent the virus’ spread

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A bereaved father mourns his lost son, who went missing in the tsunami, at a memorial in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on Monday. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 10:48am, 11 Mar 2020Updated: 8:38pm, 11 Mar 2020

Japan on Wednesday pays tribute to the more than 15,000 people killed in a powerful earthquake and resulting tsunami that also caused the nation’s worst nuclear accident nine years ago, but fears over the spread of coronavirus have caused a number of events to be cancelled or scaled back.

A state-sponsored memorial ceremony that had been held every year in Tokyo since 2012 was cancelled for the first time, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying he will observe a moment of silence at 2:46pm, the exact moment the magnitude-9 quake hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, and deliver an address from his official residence instead.

Police officers search a beach earlier this year for the remains of people who went missing in the earthquake and tsunami. Photo: Kyodo

Many municipalities in the hardest-hit prefectures of Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi have cancelled or postponed their ceremonies but will still set up altars where people can lay flowers, while others drastically downsized their events.

The twin natural disasters left some 18,400 people dead or missing and triggered a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 150 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Workers in hazmat suits pictured at a water treatment facility at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last month. Photo: AP

The emergency prompted hundreds of thousands of residents to flee the region while the plant released radioactive material into the environment.