13/04 Many people, many ways to pray at 2:46 p.m.

A woman breaks down in tears in front of Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture. (Shingo Kuzutani)Self-Defense Forces officers and firefighters form a circle and pray in silence on a hilltop in Natori city, Miyagi Prefecture, at the exact time the earthquake struck a month ago. (Shinichi Iizuka)Shoko Kobayashi. far right, and her 11-year-old brother, Ryuichi, second from right, and friends pray in silence at a shelter in Kamaishi city, Iwate Prefecture. (Naoko Kawamura)A 9-year-old boy brings a bouquet to a field of rubble that used to be his school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. (Shingo Kuzutani)Evacuees observe a moment of silence at an evacuation shelter in Watari town, Miyagi Prefecture. (Kazuhiro Nagashima)

A month has passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, leaving more than 13,000 people dead and nearly 14,000 missing. In disaster-hit regions and across Japan, silent prayers were dedicated to the numerous victims who lost their lives on March 11.

A large number of people joined hands in front of Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture, where many schoolchildren died. Ren Sato, who used to attend the school as a first-grader, stepped into a field of rubble where it once stood and offered a bouquet of flowers in memory of his lost friends.

Members of the Self-Defense Forces and firefighters, clearing rubble in the disaster areas, also stopped to join hands and pray.

At numerous school gymnasiums that were turned into evacuation shelters, disaster victims prayed in silence when a signal was made at 2:46 p.m.

Shoko Kobayashi and her 11-year-old brother, Ryuichi, at the moment the magnitude-9.0 quake struck the month before, paused to remember their father, who was killed by the tsunami.

"I used to promise to my father that I would be a beautician and that he would be my first customer," the 17-year-old said. "It's like as if he would come back at any moment and say, 'Hi, I'm back,' and I can hardly believe that he's gone. But I know I should smile and try to give my family strength."