Photo/Illutration The undertow after the tsunami hit Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, on March 11, 2011 (Provided by the Japan Coast Guard)

Ceremonies and memorials marked the 14th anniversary of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, but the disaster has still not ended for the families of more than 2,500 people.

The National Police Agency lists 2,520 victims of the quake and tsunami as missing as of March 1. That figure equals 14 percent of the total number of deaths caused by the disaster.

The high number of missing people underscores the strength of the tsunami, but other factors have also played a part in the difficulty to find the bodies.

Missing people accounted for a significant portion of the heavy casualties suffered in three municipalities after the tsunami slammed into the coast of the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011.

Thirty-four percent of those who were killed or disappeared in the tsunami in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, are still missing. The ratios of missing people are 30 percent in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, and 26 percent in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture.

Most of the bodies found were spotted in open areas along the coast of Sendai Bay.

But the search has proved more difficult along the rias coast from southern Iwate Prefecture to northern Miyagi Prefecture.

According to Fumihiko Imamura, a professor at Tohoku University’s Tsunami Engineering Laboratory Disaster Control Research Center, the tsunami reached a height of over 20 meters in the indented inner bay.

After reaching shore, it turned into a strong undertow that dragged buildings, soil and people into the sea.

Some of the bodies later washed ashore or floated to the surface when the water temperature rose in summer.

However, many bodies are believed to remain deep on the seabed.

Cities and towns surrounding the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant also have a relatively high rate of missing people.

One likely factor is that concerns about high radiation levels have hindered search activities.

The Japan Coast Guard has pulled 408 bodies from the sea, including 389 during the year after the disaster.

The most recent retrieval was a male body off the coast of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, in 2019.

The Japan Coast Guard continues searching for bodies three or four times a year in response to residents’ requests.

The divers’ current equipment allows them to reach depths of about 35 meters, covering a very small area of the sea.

“A tsunami is a disaster that makes us unable to find bodies,” a veteran diver of the Japan Coast Guard said. “So, please escape by any means.”

The Justice Ministry in June 2011 adopted a special measure that allows families to submit death notifications for their missing loved ones, even if their bodies have not been found.

But some families remain reluctant to do so, even 14 years after the tsunami.

For example, death notifications for two missing people in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, have not been submitted.

“Their families probably haven’t decided yet,” a city official said.

Kiyoshi Kanebishi, a professor at Kwansei Gakuin University, conducted a survey on victims’ families with a media outlet on the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

He found that the rate of families of missing people who felt “troubled” was nearly double that of families whose members’ bodies have been found.

More than 40 percent of families of those still missing said they “cannot accept their deaths,” according to the survey.

“Families of missing people suffer from a sense of inconclusiveness called an ‘ambiguous loss,’ and they feel left behind in the reconstruction effort,” Kanebishi said.

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