On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred off the Pacific coast of Tohoku in Japan.1

The 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and it triggered a powerful tsunami and sparked a nuclear crisis and health scare.2

NASA researchers later discovered that the destructive tsunami generated by the earthquake was a long-hypothesized“merging tsunami” that doubled in intensity over rugged ocean ridges, amplifying its destructive power before reaching shore.3

Satellites captured not just one wave front4 that day, but at least two, which merged to form a single doublehigh wave far out at sea—one capable of traveling long distances without losing its power.

At the one year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, together with international and local support, Japan is slowly rebuilding its towns, schools, fisheries and… hearts, through acts of resilience and sheer courage.5

Resilience: Sunflowers to decontaminate toxic soil6

The Japan earthquake and tsunami did more than just cause destruction to houses and roads; it caused severe structural damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, knocking out its water cooling systems and melting the fuel rods inside several reactors, sparking explosions.7

In response, Japan raised the crisis level at the beleaguered plant from 5 to 7—the highest level on the International Atomic Energy Agencys scale for rating nuclear accidents.8 Food and water safety was also a concern, aside from the health implications of exposure to ionizing radiation.9

Shortly after the crisis, a group from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), led by Prof. Masamichi Yamashita, grew sunflowers around the nuclear plant to remove soil contamination of cesium.10

Radioactive cesium is similar to kalium, a commonly used fertilizer.11 If kalium is not present, sunflowers will absorb cesium instead. This move was similar to after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, where sunflowers and rape blossoms were used to decontaminate soil in Ukraine.12

Starting with 300 kilograms of sunflower seeds, the group has sown sunflower seeds in the 30-kilometer region around the Fukushima plant. Aside from their task of removing radioactive cesium from the soil, the team also hoped that their sunflowers would become a symbol of recovery in the areas affected by the nuclear crisis.

Return to normalcy: The coastal town of Minami Sanriku13

Almost one year ago, Minami Sanriku was one of many coastal towns in the Northern Miyagi Prefecture that was devastated by the Tohoku-Oki earthquake and tsunami.14 Of its 17,666 residents, some 800 people died after 15-meter tsunami waves hit the coastal areas.

Today, the town is trying to get back its life, thanks to the help of the 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of residents who, together with government agencies, have worked day and night to clear damage caused by the disaster.

“The double disaster was a real tragedy for all of us,”said, Shuji Kounosu, a local resident. “But it has had an incredible positive effect on all of us as it revived the“koh” tradition (the tradition of helping each other), which was previously anchored in the Japanese traditional way of living.15 This has helped us so much to regain confidence in the future.”

And as of February, a group of 20 universities in Tokyo has pledged16 to launch the Minami Sanriku Volunteers Network for the Revival of Tohoku, which will help rebuild local industries, promote tourism, and provide farming assistance.

Fishermen who lost their fishing boats and homes have formed a cooperative in Minami Sanriku near Shizukawa fishing port, and Miyagi Governer Yoshihiro Murai has called for the establishment of a “special reconstruction zone for fisheries.”

“You can have all the walls you want to protect you but what makes a big difference are the community spirit and the solidarity17 between people,” Kounosu said.

1.magnitude:【地】震級。按震源放出的能量大小來分等級，釋放能量越大，地震震級也越大。一般分為九級，2.5級以上的地震能被感知到，五級以上的地震就能造成破壞；Tohoku:（日本）東北部地區(qū)，覆蓋了日本本州島東北部的大片地域。

2. tsunami: 海嘯；spark: 點燃，觸發(fā)。

3. hypothesize: 基于假設(shè)的，假定的；merging tsunami: 合并海嘯，是指兩個或兩個以上海嘯波合并，在崎嶇不平的洋脊隆起的影響下，毀滅性的力量進一步放大之后到達陸地的海嘯；intensity: （電、熱、光、波等的）強度，烈度；rugged: 高低不平的，多巖石的；amplify:放大（聲音等），增強。

4. wave front: 【物】波前鋒，波陣面。

5. Great East Japan Earthquake: 日本東北特大地震，也稱作日本“3·11”特大地震；fishery: 漁場，漁業(yè)；resilience:（活力、精神等的）復(fù)原力，恢復(fù)力；sheer: 完全的，十足的。

6. decontaminate: 凈化，給……去污；toxic: 有毒的，中毒的。

7. Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant: 福島第一核電站；knock out: 使失去效能，使無用；fuel rod: 燃料棒；reactor: （核）反應(yīng)堆。

8. beleaguered: 被包圍的，被圍攻的；International Atomic Energy Agency: 國際原子能機構(gòu)，是一個致力推廣和平使用核能的國際組織。此句中提到的核事件分級標準指的是國際核能事件分級表（International Nuclear Event Scale, INES），根據(jù)核電站事故對安全的影響作為分類，使傳媒和公眾更易了解事故的嚴重程度。七級是最高級別，用于指大量核污染泄漏到工廠以外，造成巨大健康和環(huán)境影響的核事故。

9. implication: 牽連，涉及；ionizing radiation: 電離輻射，對人體的危害性極大，阻延人體新陳代謝中舊壞細胞的死亡與停止分裂，從而導(dǎo)致癌癥、不孕、基因突變等細胞異常情況。

10. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency: 日本宇宙航空研究開發(fā)機構(gòu)，負責日本航空太空開發(fā)政策；contamination: 污染；cesium: 銫，是一種用于制造真空器件、光電管等的重要材料的堿金屬。

11.radioactive:放射性的，有輻射的；kalium:鉀；fertilizer: 肥料。

12. 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster: 切爾諾貝利核電廠事故，是發(fā)生在烏克蘭切爾諾貝利核電站的一起核事故，被普遍認為是歷史上最嚴重的核電廠事故；rape blossom: 油菜花。

13. normalcy: 常態(tài)；Minami Sanriku: 南三陸町，是位于日本宮城縣東北部臨太平洋的一個小鎮(zhèn)。

14. Miyagi Prefecture: 宮城縣，是日本東北部的一個縣，東鄰太平洋；devastate:毀滅，毀壞。

15. revive: 復(fù)興，復(fù)活；be anchored in:扎根于某種體系（或生活方式等）。

16. pledge: 發(fā)誓，保證。

17. solidarity: 團結(jié)。