Powerful earthquake rattles Japan

One month on, lives – and landscapes – are still in chaos in areas of north-eastern Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has thanked people around the world for their response to the earthquake and tsunami of exactly a month ago.

Signed newspaper advertisements said the support had brought hope and inspired courage at a desperate time.

Ceremonies and a one-minute silence were held to mark the moment of the unprecedented disaster, triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake.

It is estimated to have killed 28,000 people and left 150,000 homeless.

Some villages on the north-east coast of the main Japanese island of Honshu were largely destroyed.

The disaster also severely damaged a nuclear plant, which is still causing severe problems for the authorities.

“We offer our deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.

“We are sorry for causing inconvenience and difficulties to those who still live in shelters.”

The earthquake struck at 1446 local time on 11 March.

Touring areas wrecked by the disaster on Sunday, Mr Kan promised to do everything possible to help communities.

“The government will give all its strength to work with you. We will never abandon you,” he told survivors in the city of Ishinomaki.

The prime minister also tried to reassure survivors that the fishing industry – which many in the area rely on for their livelihoods – would resume as soon as possible.

The tsunami wrecked boats and piers, closing down large-scale fishing operations.

Naoto Kan tried to reassure locals that the fishing industry will resume

But the damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has also hit the fishing industry, as the public and international buyers ditch Japanese food products over fears of contamination.

Workers have been feeding water into three reactors to cool them because the cooling systems were damaged in the earthquake.

Mr Edano said that gains had been made at the plant.

“The possibility that the situation at the nuclear plant will deteriorate and lead to new leakage of massive radioactive materials is becoming significantly smaller,” he told reporters.

“Obviously, the nuclear plant is not running normally. We have to continue to ask nearby residents to remain evacuated in case the situation deteriorates.

“We believe the risk of that has become significantly smaller compared to one or two weeks after the earthquake.”

The authorities have been releasing water with low levels of radioactivity into the sea in recent days so that they can transfer highly radioactive water to a sealed area within the plant.

The release of the water angered fishing communities and drew criticism from Russia, China and South Korea.

Mr Kan has apologised for not releasing more information on the operation.

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