Japan marks 1 year since quake, tsunami disaster

 TOKYO (AP) -- Japan is remembering the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the nation a year ago, killing just over 19,000 people and unleashing the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century.

Along the tsunami-battered northeastern coast, in Tokyo and elsewhere, memorial ceremonies were planned Sunday to mark 2:46 p.m. -- the moment when the magnitude-9.0 earthquake hit on March 11, 2011.

Today, some 325,000 people rendered homeless remain in temporary housing. While much of the debris has been gathered into massive piles, very little rebuilding has begun.

The government says the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, where three reactor cores melted down after the tsunami knocked out their cooling systems, is stable. But the plant's chief acknowledges it remains in a fragile state.