00:03A somber moment as the charity song Flowers Will Bloom plays at this memorial in Taipei,
00:09dedicated to the tens of thousands of people that died in the Great East Japan earthquake
00:1415 years ago. The song, used to raise money for relief efforts back then,
00:19brings back the memories of the disaster and of Taiwan's quick jump to action to help Japanese
00:24people then. No matter what, I can't forget how all Taiwan's people extended a helping hand.
00:33Even walking around town, when people understood that I was Japanese,
00:36they would always ask whether my home was okay or whether my family was okay.
00:41The magnitude 9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on the afternoon of March 11, 2011,
00:47killed nearly 20,000 people and triggered a nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
00:53plant. Taiwan sent over 250 million U.S. dollars and multiple rescue teams to aid disaster relief
01:00efforts. On the 15th anniversary, President Lai Tingze posted a message on social media
01:05remembering the goodwill shared between Taiwan and Japan since the quake,
01:09helping each other through multiple natural disasters. And that goodwill has never been
01:14forgotten by Japan. Much time has flowed past since the earthquake. The affected areas have
01:24completely changed from the scenes of devastation we saw back then, and recovery is certainly moving
01:29forward. But even now, after 15 years, we have not forgotten that earthquake, nor the warm hearts
01:35of Taiwan's people. The group held a moment of silence around the same time those lives were lost
01:4615 years ago and placed flowers in their memory. Fifteen years on, the impact of the earthquake still
01:53lingers in a tragedy felt in both Japan and Taiwan, and the lasting bond between two neighbors always
02:00willing to offer each other help when the need arises. Hank Shrian, Tiffany Wong, in Taipei, for Taiwan Plus.
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