In Photos: 8 years on, remembering the Great East Japan Earthquake

People hold hands and offer silent prayers for victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake in front of the "Taro Kanko Hotel," which was hit by tsunami following the tremor and is now preserved to teach people about the disaster, at 2:46 p.m., the time the quake struck, on March 11, 2019. (Mainichi/Naoki Watanabe)

Nao Miura puts sweets on a stone at the site of her house in the town of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 11, 2019. Her then-3-year-old daughter Yu and her paternal grandparents were victims of tsunami following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and remain missing. (Mainichi/Shinnosuke Kyan)

Makoto Inoue, front, puts his hands together with his family in front of the site of the Minamisanriku town's disaster prevention office on March 11, 2019. His then-23-year-old son Tsubasa, who was in the building, was killed by tsunami following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. (Mainichi/Shinnosuke Kyan)

Yuichi Yonezawa, 54, left, who lost his parents and a younger brother to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, puts his hands together with his 8-year-old daughter Tae, center, at an office which was hit by tsunami following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, in the city of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, on March 11, 2019. (Mainichi/Masahiro Ogawa)

Police officers search for victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake on the banks of the Ukedo River in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on March 11, 2019. (Mainichi/Yuki Miyatake)

People throw flowers into the sea for victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake in the town of Yamada, Iwate Prefecture, on March 11, 2019. (Mainichi/Daisuke Wada)

Tsuyoshi Miura, 48, visiting from Yokohama, teaches his children about his parents in front of their nameplates at a cenotaph for victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake in the city of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, on March 11, 2019. (Mainichi/Daisuke Wada)

A woman in her 60s who lost her grandchildren aged 2 and 3 to tsunami following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake puts sweets in front of their grave stone in the town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, on March 11, 2019. (Mainichi/Naoki Watanabe)

A woman who lost her daughter and grandchild to tsunami following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake offers flowers at their grave stone in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on March 11, 2019. (Mainichi/Yuki Miyatake)