Two women in their 30s place flowers/say prayers for public official Miki Endo before a makeshift shrine in front of the battered remains of the Crisis Management Center in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture on 11 Sept. 2011, exactly 6 months after the March 11 disasters struck Japan. Endo is said to have saved thousands of lives in the area after she continued to shout warning calls to local people of the oncoming tsunami from the top of the building, sacrificing her own life in the process. The two women pictured -- who would not give their names -- were friends of Endo, who was just 25 when she was washed away by the waves. Photograph: Robert Gilhooly