TOKYO: Japanese in Tokyo and along the northeast coast are marking the seventh anniversary of the tsunami that took more than 18,000 lives and triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Residents in coastal towns observed a moment of silence Sunday after sirens wailed at 2:46 p.m., the moment the magnitude-9.0 offshore earthquake that triggered the tsunami struck on March 11, 2011. The tsunami overwhelmed sea walls and washed away buildings, cars and entire neighborhoods as it swept inland.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at an official ceremony in Tokyo that reconstruction is making steady progress, but more than 70,000 people are still displaced from their communities and many will never be able to return.
Cleaning up the still-radioactive nuclear plant remains a daunting challenge that will take decades.
Japan marks 7th anniversary of tsunami that killed 18,000
Japan marks 7th anniversary of tsunami that killed 18,000
Flash floods in Nairobi kill 23, disrupt flights at major airport
- Ruto said he had deployed a team of emergency responders, including soldiers, to coordinate rescue efforts
- “I have also ordered that relief food from our national strategic reserves be immediately released”
NAIROBI: Aid workers pulled bodies from floodwaters across Nairobi on Saturday after flash floods that began overnight killed at least 23 people, swept away dozens of cars and disrupted flights at East Africa’s biggest airport, authorities said.
Kenyan President William Ruto said he had deployed a team of emergency responders, including soldiers, to coordinate rescue efforts, while offering condolences to the affected communities.
“I have also ordered that relief food from our national strategic reserves be immediately released and distributed to families affected by the floods,” he said in a statement on social media.
In the industrial neighborhood of Grogan, security guard John Lomayan, 34, looked at the body of an elderly man he recognized — a roadside egg seller — trapped beneath a car that had been washed away when the Nairobi River burst its banks.
“I saw him being carried by the water from up there,” he said, gesturing up the road. “We didn’t know where he had gone. It is only now that we see him under the car.”
Bus driver John Mwai recounted how he turned his bus into a rescue vehicle to move people to higher ground.
Kenya Airways said the rains had disrupted flights to Nairobi and forced some to divert to the coastal city of Mombasa.
Scientists say global warming is worsening floods and droughts across East Africa by concentrating rainfall into shorter, more intense bursts. A 2024 World Weather Attribution study found climate change had made devastating rains in the region twice as likely as before.
A Reuters reporter saw three bodies pulled from underneath cars. Some of the dead had been electrocuted by damaged power lines. National provider Kenya Power separately said the waters had damaged equipment at a substation, listing 14 neighborhoods that had been affected.
“So many cars, so much stuff, I don’t know. Everything was just (washed away). All of the water (came) ... from that river,” shocked resident Cedric Mwanza said, referring to the Nairobi River.
