Aiko Kin, a 59-year-old nurse in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, has been awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal by the International Committee of the Red Cross for her dedication to the victims of the 2011 quake and tsunami.

Kin, deputy director and head nurse at the Ishinomaki Red Cross Hospital, was among 32 nurses from 16 countries to receive the medal, which honors "exceptional courage and devotion to victims of armed conflict or natural disaster."

"I'm sure my (late) husband would have been the happiest person to hear the news," she said.