The Japan Society of Boston is among several groups holding events Thursday to mark the 10th anniversary of the strongest earthquake ever to hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake was followed by a tsunami and a nuclear plant meltdown; at least 16,000 people lost their lives and thousands were displaced as the entire Tohuku region was devastated.

“People really, genuinely were concerned about our families and friends,” said Yuko Handa, Executive Director of the Japan Society of Boston.

Handa said Boston has a strong relationship with Japan through its sister city Kyoto, and after the disaster the Japanese refer to as 3/11, Bostonians stepped in to assist people.

“I really, really remember how people in the local neighborhoods where a lot of the Japanese people lived came to help in fundraising and donations,” Handa said.

The earthquake triggered a massive tsunami that flooded more than 200 miles of coastland and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. It also triggered a nuclear emergency.

Every year since 2013, Timothy Nagaoka, a Japanese language teacher in the Boston Public Schools, schedules a remembrance of the earthquake anniversary in downtown Boston with origami artwork he calls, "Cranes on the Square" at Copley Square.

“We fold paper cranes to pay tribute to the people who lost their lives and are suffering in Northeast Japan,” Nagaoka said.

There is a Japanese tradition Nagaoka said, that when you make 1,000 paper cranes it brings good fortune and sometimes a wish can be granted. In prior years, with the help of passersby, Nagaoka would fold and display 1,000 colorful cranes.

But because of the pandemic, this year's display that was held last weekend at Copley Square featured 10 large white origami cranes and one giant six-foot-tall crane with a wingspan of 10 feet, that Nagaoka folded himself.

Handa said the Japan Society of Boston will release two special messages on 3/11 from members who lived far away from the disaster but were impacted by it.

“They have a message to say there were things that they learned," Handa said, in particular "the resilience of the Japanese people and the way they have been rebuilding the cities and towns.”

Harvard and MIT also have commemorative events scheduled Thursday.