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Pope Francis will meet survivors of Japan's 2011 "triple disaster" -- earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear meltdown -- on the penultimate day of his long-cherished trip to Japan Monday.
After an emotional day comforting survivors of atomic bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima -- where the pontiff attacked the "crime" of using nuclear power as a weapon -- Francis will meet those still affected by the 2011 tragedy that killed nearly 16,000.
At 2:46 pm (0546 GMT) on March 11 that year, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific seabed just 130 kilometres (80 miles) from Japan's northeastern coastline, unleashing a tsunami estimated at nearly 17 metres (56 feet) high.
The wave carried away everything before it, washing away people, buildings and farms, but also damaging cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, sparking the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
The human cost of the quake and tsunami was enormous -- 15,898 dead and 2,531 still missing. The meltdown itself killed no one, but more than 3,700 people who survived the triple disaster later died as a result of complications related to evacuations.
Nearly half a million people fled their homes in the first days after the quake and even today, roughly 50,000 remain in temporary housing.
The 82-year-old pontiff will also hold Mass in the huge Tokyo Dome baseball stadium and hold private talks with Japan's new Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
There are also rumours he may meet people on death row and make comments criticising the death penalty, which is practised in Japan with significant public support.
- 'Powerful inspiration' -
Francis has lhankered for a trip to Japan since he was a young missionary. He has described his feelings of "fondness and affection" for the country, where Catholics are a minority.
Most Japanese follow a mixture of Buddhism and the native Shinto religion, a polytheistic faith based on a belief that all natural things contain a spirit. There are an estimated 440,000 Japanese Catholics.
The pope said he had found "powerful inspiration" as a young man in the stories of Japanese martyrs, who suffered horrific torture and persecution during the two centuries Christianity was banned in the country when it was closed off to the world.
The emotional centrepiece of his four-day trip was his initial trip to Nagasaki, a city forever associated with the dropping of a nuclear bomb that eventually killed at least 74,000 people.
There, the Argentine lashed out at the concept of nuclear deterrence and prayed in the rain for the victims of those killed in the "unspeakable horror" of the bomb.
He then travelled to Hiroshima, the first city to suffer an atomic attack, where he denounced as a "crime" the use of nuclear power as a weapon.
In both cities, he met people who survived the bombings, and listened to their tales of the horror.
The final day of his trip on Tuesday takes in meetings with young students at Sophia University before concluding his Asian tour.
The first leg of the trip was in Thailand -- like Japan a country with a small Catholic minority.
There, he warned Thai youth against the pitfalls of technology and stressed religious harmony and peace in the Buddhist-majority country -- holding meetings with monks.
Japan's quake, tsunami, nuclear disaster: What happened in 2011
Tokyo (AFP) Nov 24, 2019 -
Pope Francis will meet in Japan with victims of the enormous earthquake and tsunami of 2011 that triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown -- sometimes referred to as the "triple disaster".
Here are some of the details of the tragedy that struck on March 11, 2011, killing nearly 16,000 people and forcing tens of thousands to leave their homes, many of them for good.
A giant quake, a massive wave
At 2:46 pm (0546 GMT) of March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude underwater quake struck the Pacific seabed roughly 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of Japan's Miyagi prefecture.
It unleashed a giant tsunami estimated to have been as high as 16.7 metres (54.8 feet), which swept away residents, destroyed homes and gutted concrete buildings.
The nuclear disaster
Soon after the quake, tsunami waves swept into coastal regions, including at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO).
The power supply and reactor cooling systems at the plant were damaged, causing atomic fuel inside three of its six reactors to overheat and eventually melt down.
The government initially ordered the evacuation of residents living within three kilometres of the plant and told others to stay indoors to avoid nuclear fallout.
The evacuation order gradually expanded in the following days, a move that caused public criticism of the government's response as slow and confusing.
Work crews scrambled, but they failed to cool the runaway reactors.
On March 12, the plant had to open a vent in a reactor to release pressure building inside. The step ejected significant radioactive materials that blanketed the vast farming and industrial region as well as the Pacific Ocean shoreline.
On the same day, a hydrogen explosion ripped through a building encasing Reactor One. It was followed by the second explosion two days later at a building housing Reactor Three. On March 15, a third explosion hit a building for Reactor Four.
Despite the blasts, the reactors remained relatively intact. But radioactive materials continued to leak.
Then-Emperor Akihito on March 16 made an emergency television address in a bid to reassure a worried public.
In December 2011, the government said it had brought the reactors to the state of "cold shutdown", meaning that they were kept stably cool with water and emission of radioactive materials was significantly reduced.
The human cost
In all, 15,898 people died and 2,531 people remain missing after the quake and tsunami.
The Fukushima nuclear crisis itself did not directly kill anyone.
But more than 3,700 people who survived the triple calamities later died as a result of complications related to their lives in evacuation, including stress and hypertension.
Some 470,000 people were estimated to have fled their home to seek shelter in the first days of the disasters.
Even today, roughly 50,000 people remain in temporary housing, including those who are living with friends and relatives.
Eight years since the disaster, volunteers are still combing shorelines in the Pacific northeast looking for the remains of those who are missing.
Clean-up and nuclear resistance
The government and TEPCO say it will take four decades to decommission the Fukushima reactors.
The disaster damaged farms, livestock and fishing grounds, forcing many to give up their jobs and homes.
Produce from the region is now subject to strict government checks.
The national and local governments have carried out decontamination, including removing topsoil and cleaning roads and homes in a bid to encourage people to return.
But many former residents, particularly young families, have chosen not to return to towns near the Fukushima plant because of lingering health fears.
The disaster prompted the temporary shutdown of all nuclear plants in Japan, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government pushing for them to be reopened.
But deep public resistance has meant only a handful of reactors have been restarted, with utilities in some cases deciding to scrap obsolete reactors.
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