Communities in the northeast marked the third anniversary of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami Tuesday with ceremonies commemorating those who lost their lives in the disaster, which devastated the region and triggered the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear crisis.

At a disaster monument in Sendai, people who lost loved ones gathered early in the morning to lay flowers.

Among them was Toshihiko Daigaku, 59, who lost his parents, wife, a brother and a nephew.