Rome Newsroom, Mar 11, 2021 / 05:00 am
Ten years ago on March 11, a magnitude-9 earthquake under the ocean off the coast of Japan triggered a disaster at a Fukushima power plant which killed nearly 20,000 people and is considered to be the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Japan’s Catholic bishops have marked the anniversary by praying for the dead and making a promise that the Church’s rebuilding efforts in the region will continue.
“The Catholic Church in Japan is not limited to material support but will continue to walk in the bonds of solidarity with the people of Tohoku as friends, brothers and sisters, a solidarity that spreads around the world to raise our horizon and our hope,” the bishops said in a March 11 statement.
Immediately after the nuclear disaster, the Catholic Church in Japan established a center for reconstruction assistance in the Diocese of Sendai, which contains the affected area, and pledged that the country’s 16 dioceses would work together to provide reconstruction assistance for the next ten years.