Today Marks Two Years Since The Japanese Earthquake And Tsunami

Today marks the second anniversary of 2011’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, that left nearly 19,000 people dead or missing.

Japan’s Emperor held a memorial service this morning in Tokyo marking the exact time the magnitude9.0 earthquake struck off the coast.

Japan is still struggling to clean up radiation from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. The plant’s reactors melted down after its cooling systems were disabled by the tsunami.

In addition to the loss of lives, the disaster also displaced some 300,000 people. About half of those displaced are evacuees from areas near the nuclear plant. It could take decades before the area is safe again for people to live there.