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Japan Tsunami (2011)
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The 2011 Japan earthquake was a magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 local time on 11 March 2011. It was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and one of the five most powerful earthquakes in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900.
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The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako and which, in the Sendai area, travelled up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.
It caused 15,880 deaths as well as 130,000 buildings totally collapsed. The tsunami caused nuclear accidents, primarily the meltdowns at three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Nuclear Power Plant were evacuated. The World Bank's estimated economic cost was US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in world history. |
TheDisaster.net 2013