Nearly one year after the March 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan, Vice President Joe Biden released a statement about the “terrible disaster that shook an island, surged an ocean and cracked a reactor.”

“As we remember the nearly 16,000 lives that were lost and the 3,000 still missing, we also honor the Japanese people, who over the past year have reminded the world that the human spirit is as formidable as the forces of nature, particularly when we join together in trying times,” Biden said. 

He also said that America will stand by Japan for “as long as it takes” to continue rebuilding the nation. 

Revisit Civil Beat’s live blog tsunami coverage from last year.