With moments of silence and prayers, Japan has begun marking one year since the massive earthquake and tsunami struck the nation, killing just over 19,000 people and unleashing the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century. At dawn in the devastated northeastern coastal town of Rikuzentakata, dozens of people from across Japan gathered to offer prayers in front of a solitary pine tree that

One year ago Japan was hit by a devastating earthquake followed by a deadly tsunami and a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power plant. Shocking video images of black waves of water showed how annihilating a tsunami can be. More than 18,000 people died in the disaster on 11 March 2011