The 2011 Tohoku Disaster

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck off Japan's northeast coast — the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan. The tsunami that followed reached heights of 40 meters in some places and pushed up to 10 kilometers inland, sweeping away entire towns.

Nearly 20,000 people died. The tsunami overwhelmed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's seawall (designed for a 5.7-meter wave), causing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Despite Japan having the world's most advanced earthquake preparedness, the event exposed critical failures.