The 2011 earthquake and Fukushima nuclear plant disaster
The northeastern region of Japan is regularly at risk of serious earthquakes — and about 15 years ago, it experienced one of the most devastating ones in the world to date.
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck under the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the northern city of Sendai.
It was the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, according to Reuters, and set off a series of massive tsunamis that killed nearly 20,000 people.
That tsunami also damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, leading to a series of explosions and meltdowns in the world’s worst nuclear disaster since the Chornobyl disaster in 1986.
