Photos: Ten years on, Japan mourns victims of earthquake and tsunami disaster

With a moment of silence, prayers and anti-nuclear protests, Japan mourned about 20,000 victims of the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan ten years ago, destroying towns and triggering nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima. Above, people offer silent prayers before releasing dove-shaped balloons into the sky to mourn earthquake and tsunami victims in Natori, Miyagi prefecture.

A tsunami is breaching an embankment and flowing into the city of Miyako in Iwate prefecture in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude quake.

Mariko Odawara places flowers to mourn the earthquake and tsunami victims that killed thousands and triggered the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, during its 10th anniversary, in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture Japan.

A woman sits on a road and cries in the destroyed city of Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan on March 13, 2011, after a massive earthquake and tsunami that are feared to have killed thousands.

People evacuating with small boats down a road flooded by the tsunami waves in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture, in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami which hit the region in this file picture.

Residents carrying belongings from tsunami devastated homes in Natori, Miyagi prefecture.

This file picture taken on March 13, 2011 shows Japan Self Defence troops walking through devastation to search for missing people in the town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture, in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami which hit the region on March 11.

A soldier carrying an elderly woman on his back as people are evacuated to a shelter in Kesennuma in Miyagi prefecture.

An area destroyed by the tsunami in Minamisanriku, in Miyagi prefecture, in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami which hit the region ten years ago.

From top left to bottom right, vehicles pass through the ruins of the leveled city of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, on March 15, 2011, top, four days after the tsunami, and vehicles pass through the same area under construction on Feb. 23, 2012, on March 7, 2016 and Saturday, March 6, 2021.

Tsunami waves hitting the coast of Minamisoma in Fukushima prefecture in this file picture from March 11, 2011.

Residents pass through a road that was cleared by bulldozer through the ruins of the city of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 17, 2011, six days after the March 11 tsunami.

File image made available from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shows the damaged No. 4 unit of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, northeastern Japan.

A wave approaches Miyako City from the Heigawa estuary in Iwate Prefecture after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck the area March 11, 2011.

A man comforting a woman as she cries in front of her damaged home in the town of Watari in Miyagi prefecture, in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami which hit the region on March 11, 2011.

From top left to bottom right, a Japanese survivor of the earthquake and tsunami rides his bicycle through the leveled city of Minamisanriku, in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 15, 2011, top, a car drives through the same spot on Feb. 23, 2012, trucks and cars drive through on Saturday, March 5, 2016 and a woman walks through on March 6, 2021.

Seventy-year-old Takeshi Yokoyama (L) and his 64-year-old wife Umeko carry boxes of food in front of the Kyotoku-maru fishing trawler in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, nearly two weeks after the area was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami, March 22, 2011.

A combination photo shows wreckage in Miyako (top), a tsunami-hit northeastern Japan city pictured on March 15, 2011, and the same area (bottom) on February 19, 2021.

A combination photo shows wreckage in Onagawa (top), a tsunami-hit town in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, pictured on March 18, 2011, and a commercial complex built in the same area, pictured on Jannuary 31, 2021.

This combination of pictures created shows a general view of damage (top) caused by the tsunami, seen from a hill overlooking the city of Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture on March 16, 2011; and the same area (bottom) nearly 10 years later on January 27, 2021.