Japan 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami

The 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami was caused by a 9.0-magnitude undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred 11 March, 2011. The epicenter was approximately 72 kilometers (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku.

The earthquake triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 29.6 m (97 ft) that struck Japan minutes after the quake, in some cases traveling up to 10 km (6 mi) inland. The Japanese National Police Agency has officially confirmed 11,362 deaths, 2,872 injured, and 16,290 people missing across eighteen prefectures, as well as over 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. The earthquake and tsunami caused extensive and severe structural damage in Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse. Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water.

Many electrical generators were taken down, and at least three nuclear reactors suffered explosions due to hydrogen gas that had built up within their outer containment buildings after cooling system failure. On 18 March, Yukiya Amano—the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency—described the crisis as "extremely serious." Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6 mi) radius of the Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant were evacuated. - Wikipedia