'I remember the ground opened up': Killarney native recalls Fukushima a decade on

A man walks past the rubble and a burning building after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on March 11, 2011. Photo: AP/Kyodo News

In Japan, March is a month of celebrations and ceremonies. As the school year draws to a close, students and families gather for graduation ceremonies, and in the background is the spectacular annual gala: cherry blossom season.

On the morning of March 11, 2011, Sarah Hickey, a Killarney-native, went though the elaborate ordeal of putting on a kimono for the graduation at the junior high school she worked at in Iwaki, a rural coastal region of Fukushima Prefecture, a few hours north of Tokyo.