From New York to Vienna to Bangkok, people young and old around the world prayed for victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on the first anniversary of the disaster.
From New York to Vienna to Bangkok, people young and old around the world prayed for victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on the first anniversary of the disaster.
About 1,100 people gathered for a memorial service titled “Together for 3.11,” which was held in a church in New York from 6 p.m. on March 10.
With battery-run candles in their hands, the participants observed a moment of silence for the victims.
Kamal Ramani, a 38-year-old Indian doctor who went to Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on a rescue operation from New York after the quake struck, said people will never forget the Japanese victims. He also said that he and others will continue to be available for assistance.
Ramani, who is originally from Kobe, survived the Great Hanshin Earthquake that flattened parts of the city in January 1995.
Philip Yuki Weissman, 15, whose mother is Japanese, said he raised money for the victims by selling T-shirts and cookies at his high school.
The teenager said he hopes that people will continue to help each other instead of thinking only about themselves.
Video messages from victims in the Tohoku region were shown at the service.
Nearly 20,000 people died or went missing in Japan’s worst postwar disaster.
In Vienna, the internationally renowned Vienna Boys Choir gave a concert to mourn the victims at the Imperial Court Chapel Vienna on March 11. They sang for about 90 minutes, including a piece from Jacobus Gallus.
Although the choir canceled its performances in Japan last year due to the disaster, it will give concerts in Tokyo in April and elsewhere in Japan.
“It will be great if our concert can soothe the souls of the people affected by the disaster,” a 13-year-old choir member said.
In London, the London Metropolitan Orchestra joined a dance troupe and musicians from disaster-stricken Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, for a charity concert on the night of March 10. The show was performed to provide support to the victims and to express gratitude for the assistance extended by British people.
Masato Okubo, 57, who lost his home in the disaster, played the Japanese flute, while a 57-year-old from the same town played the piano.
Four members of the Fukokai dance troupe performed a local “tiger dance.” Five members of the group were killed in the tsunami.
In Bangkok, about 2,500 people participated in a charity mini marathon on March 11 to support survivors of the disaster in Japan and people affected in last year’s flooding in Thailand.
Among the entrants were Thais who took a training course provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Tokyo.
Proceeds from the sales of T-shirts marking the event will be sent to stricken areas of Tohoku.
Some participants ran with a sign in Japanese: “Ganbare Nippon” (Hang in there, Japan).