2011 Japanese Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami
March 25, 2011 - Family members confirm the deceased tsunami victims and lower the flowers during a mass funeral in Higashimatsushima. Japanese funerals are normally elaborate Buddhist ceremonies, which entail cremation. The thousands of bodies, however, exceed the capacity of available crematoriums and morgues, many of them damaged, and there are shortages of both kerosene—each cremation requires 50 liters—and dry ice for preservation. The single crematorium in Higashimatsushima, for example, can only handle four bodies a day, although hundreds have been found there and hundreds of people are still missing. Governments and the military have thus been forced to bury many bodies in hastily dug mass graves with rudimentary or no rites, although relatives of the deceased have been promised that cremation will occur later.
