Allen Pleus / Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP
A striped beakfish swims in a water-filled well or bait box, March 22, aboard a 20-foot-long Japanese boat that washed ashore recently at Long Beach, Wash. Biologists say five of the fish, plus other Japanese species of sea creatures, arrived alive, apparently hitching a ride across the Pacific Ocean on debris believed to have come from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami.
Read more from KING 5: Fish found in tsunami debris on display at Seaside Aquarium
Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP - Getty Images
Police officers search for tsunami victims at a mud-covered field near the Okawa elementary school in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture, on March 11, 2013.
Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images
A police officer searches for missing people in a wrecked vehicle at a beach in Namie, near the striken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, on March 11, 2013.
Kyodo via Reuters
A man prays to mourn victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami as a ship brought ashore by the disaster is seen in the background, in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2013.
The 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck Japan is remembered across the country with memorial services and protests. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
By Arata Yamamoto, Producer, NBC News
TOKYO -- Japan marked the second anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that swept through northern Japan, damaging more than one million homes and killing almost 19,000 people.
A moment of silence was observed at 2:46 p.m. local time on Monday at various locations where the scars of the disasters still remain.
While most of the debris has been cleared, progress has been extremely slow in redeveloping areas affected following the tsunami-triggered explosion at Fukushima Daicihi nuclear power plant. Read the full story.
Shizuo Kambayashi / AP
Women take part in a moment of silence in front of what is left of a disaster control center in an area devastated by earthquake and tsunami, in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2013.
Kimimasa Mayama / EPA
Two women take a moment to offer a prayer for the victims killed by the tsunami on the sandy shore at Arahama in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2013.
Kyodo News via AP
Two pictures of a so-called 'miracle pine tree', on March 27, 2011 (left) and March 11, 2013 (right). The 88-foot-tall tree, a single survivor among 70,000 trees in a forest along the coast in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, has been artificially restored in a project to preserve it.
An earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown -- residents of Japan's northeast coast suffered through three intertwined disasters after a massive 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast on March 11, 2011.
Related:
Rare tour of Fukushima reveals colossal decontamination efforts
Heri Juanda / AP
A woman is seen through an opening on a wall as she attends a prayer commemorating the 8th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, on Dec. 26.
Heri Juanda / AP
Women weep during a prayer commemorating the 8th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, on Dec. 26.
Today marks the 8th anniversary of the Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The disaster, triggered by a magnitude-9.3 earthquake off Sumatra, killed an estimated 230,000 people in 13 countries along the Indian Ocean.
-- European Pressphoto Agency
Arun Sankar K. / AP
Indians perform rituals and offer milk on Marina beach, a location hit by the 2004 tsunami, in Chennai, India, on Dec. 26, 2012.
Hotli Simanjuntak / EPA
Children play amid the ruins of houses destroyed by the tsunami in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, on Dec. 26.
Previously on PhotoBlog:
Jacob J. Kirk / AP
More than 230,000 people were killed with a tsunami erupted in the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004. The impact of the disaster was felt in many Asian and African nations.
Kyodo via Reuters
Four members of the Vienna Philharmonic play a Bach sonata on Mount Hiyori at Yuriage district in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, on November 2, 2012.
The commemorative performance took place in front of a monument honoring victims in an area severely damaged by Japan's March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
Slideshow: Triple Tragedy for Japan
Slideshow: The tsunami, one year on
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Oregon Parks and Recreation / AFP - Getty Images
This handout photograph obtained courtesy of the Oregon Parks and Recreation (OPRD) and released June 7, 2012 shows a team of about a dozen staff and volunteers organized by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to remove marine organisms from the dock which landed on Agate Beach, Oregon.
Oregon Parks and Recreation via AP
This photo, taken by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Thursday shows an invasive species commonly known as "wakame" attached to a dock float that washed up on Agate Beach Tuesday near Newport, Ore.
Miguel Llanos reports on msnbc.com's US News blog that the 66-foot dock is the largest debris to wash ashore in North America from the tsunami:
A check for any radiation from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant came up negative, said Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman Chris Havel.
The department is overseeing efforts to remove the dock but hasn't decided yet whether to demolish it on site or have it towed off. "You can't preplan for stuff like this," Havel told msnbc.com.
A starfish native to Japan was found clutching to the structure, Havel said, adding that another concern is to keep out any nonnative species that might have hitched a ride on the dock.
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Oregon Parks and Recreation / AFP - Getty Images
This handout photograph obtained courtesy of the Oregon Parks and Recreation (OPRD) and released on Thursday shows a team member of about a dozen staff and volunteers organized by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to remove marine organisms from the dock which landed on Agate Beach, Oregon, after drifting at sea following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Workers with shovels, rakes and other tools first scraped the structure clean, then briefly used low-pressure torches to sterilize the dock. The material was bagged and hauled up the beach well above the high tide line to store it temporarily.
Oregon Parks and Recreation / AP
This photo, taken by the Oregon Park and Recreations Department Thursday, June 7, 2012, shows exotic mussels attached to the dock.
When a large dock that broke away from a Japanese harbor after the tsunami and washed up on an Oregon beach, it brought along millions of organisms. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
Peter Mark / The Canadian Press via AP
The Vancouver Sun reports: A Langford motorcycle dealer is helping to return a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to its owner in Japan after it was washed out to sea by last year's tsunami and ended up on B.C.'s northwest coast. With the subsequent news that the owner had been found, the bike is to be taken to the dealer's shop and packed for shipping to Japan in its rusted state. Harley-Davidson has offered to restore the bike at one of its Japanese facilities so the owner can see the motorcycle before and after.
"I think it's going to be great that it actually goes back in its original condition. I think it's going to have a lot more meaning there," said Steve Drane, owner of the Langford dealership.
Related story:
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Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP - Getty Images
Acehnese women hug each other and pray shortly after a powerful earthquake struck off the western coast of Sumatra in Banda Aceh, Indonesia on April 11, 2012.
Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP - Getty Images
People try to go to higher ground in Banda Aceh after the earthquake struck on April 11, 2012.
Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP - Getty Images
People run shortly after the earthquake in Banda Aceh on April 11, 2012.
Alastair Jamieson and Ian Johnston report — A tsunami alert was issued for the entire Indian Ocean Wednesday after a powerful 8.6-magnitude earthquake was recorded off Indonesia's coast.
The U.S. Geological Survey said, in its latest revised statement, that the quake was centered about 14 miles beneath the ocean floor and 270 miles from Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Aceh, at 2:38 p.m. local time (4:38 am. ET).
NBC News reported scenes of panic in Indonesia, with residents and even hospital patients fleeing buildings. Click here for the latest updates.
Sara Francis / U.S. Coast Guard via AP
In a photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the unmanned Japanese fishing vessel Ryou-un Maru dirfts northwest in the Gulf of Alaska approximately 164 miles southwest of Baranof Island Wednesday April 4, 2012.
KING-TV reports: The ship is heading in the direction of the southeast Alaska town of Sitka 170 miles to the north, traveling at about one mile per hour, Coast Guard spokesman David Mosley said.
"Our main concern is maritime traffic," he said. "We're trying to minimize any safety concerns, alerting vessels. We don't want any vessels to run into it."
Handout photo / Department of National Defence
A Japanese fishing boat that was lost at sea after the 2011 tsunami has been found off the coast of B.C.
Vancouver Sun reports: VANCOUVER -- After being flushed out to sea by last year’s massive tsunami and earthquake, a Japanese squid-fishing boat has drifted across the Pacific Ocean and was about 120 nautical miles off British Columbia’s north coast Friday evening. The 150-foot ship was found drifting right-side-up about 140 nautical miles (260 km) from Cape Saint James, on the southern tip of Haida Gwaii.
“It’s been drifting across the Pacific for a year, so it’s pretty beat up,” said marine search coordinator Jeff Olsson of Victoria’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.
A ship unmoored by the 2011 tsunami has arrived near British Columbia's north coast. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Franck Robichon / EPA
Two women cry after laying flowers where a house once stood in the tsunami devastated Yuriage district, Natori city, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, March 11. Japan marks the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake that killed almost 20,000 people.
"I wish I could go back to my old house and get back our normal life again," said Hyakuaiko Konno, a 64-year-old woman from the Ishinomaki coast who has been living in temporary housing for the past seven months.
-- Reported by msnbc.com news services
Related content: Tsunami survivors in PhotoBlog
Slideshow: Then and now
Carlos Barria / Reuters
Remains from the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Ofunato and Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.
A year after the magnitude 9 earthquake unleashed a wall of water that hit Japan's northeastern coast, killing nearly 16,000 and leaving nearly 3,300 unaccounted for, the country is still grappling with the human, economic and political costs.
Along the coast, police and coast guard officers, urged on by families of the missing, still search rivers and shores for remains even though the chances of finding any would appear remote. Without bodies, thousands of people are in a state of emotional and legal limbo.
-- Reported by msnbc.com news services
Related content: Tsunami survivors in PhotoBlog
Slideshow: Then and now
Carlos Barria / Reuters
Remains from the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Ofunato and Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
Remains from the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Ofunato and Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.
Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com
Fumie Sato, 63, and her sister Hisae, 65, sit in front of a shrine to their younger sister, Yukie in Fumie's house in Minamisanriku, Japan on Feb 4, 2012.
Kuni Takahashi
Fumie Sato, 62, stands on remains the house where her mother and sister lived in MInamisanriku, Japan on March 31, 2011 after a massive earthquake and tsunami swept the house away.
Kuni Takahashi reports:
Fumie Sato, 63, and her sister Hisae, 65, still mourn their younger sister, Yukie who was killed when the tsunami swept over the Japanese coastal town of Minanisanriku on March 11, 2011, as she was trying to save her mother-in-law, who also died.
“I can’t stop blaming myself for not going with her when Yukie went down the hill to help her mother-in-law," Fumie Sato said. "My regret will never disappear. I just want to say that I am sorry when I see her in heaven.”
“I realized that there isn’t always a tomorrow. A few hours or even a few minutes from now, we could suddenly be gone. So I think we should live better but it’s hard…especially for the ones left behind in sorrow.”
The Satos found Yukie’s body five days after the tsunami virtually erased Minamisanriku, population 17,666, from the map, leaving 565 townspeople dead and 310 missing (as of Feb. 22). Fumie's house was spared because it was located on a hill, but both of her sisters’ homes were washed away.
“Yukie died in March in the snow, then spring came, then the summer,' she said. "Now it’s winter again. All buildings in town are gone and my family has changed but the seasons turn as usual as if nothing happened.”
Her older sister Hisae added, “When I saw the rice crop turned yellow last fall, I realized that the time has passed. Until then, it was always March 11th inside of me.”
Kuni Takahashi, a photojournalist based in Mumbai, returned to his native Japan in 2011 shortly after the earthquake and tsunami. He recently revisited some of the people he met there— as well as some of the people that msnbc.com profiled in its After the Wave series -- to find out how they were doing nearly a year after the devastating natural disaster.
Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com
Photos of Yukie Sato at her sister's house in Minamisanriku, Japan on Feb 4, 2012. Yukie died after the tsunami struck the town on March 11, 2011 while she was trying to save her mother-in-law, who also died.
Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com
A mountain of debris topped with snow in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan on Feb 26, 2012.
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