Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima
March 11, 2011
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off northeastern Japan generated a tsunami that overran seawalls, killed nearly 20,000 people, and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Three reactors melted down within days. Japan's faith in its nuclear competence, and the global nuclear renaissance, ended within a single afternoon of cascading catastrophe.
In context
Also in 2011 (6 other events on record)
- Tahrir Square fills · Africa · Politics
- Syria's civil war begins · Middle East · War
- Bin Laden killed in Abbottabad · South Asia · War
- Gaddafi killed in Sirte · Africa · War
- U.S. troops leave Iraq · Middle East · War
- Royal wedding at Westminster · Europe · Culture
Before and after in East Asia
Before and after in Disaster
Era
Contemporary (2001–2026), one of 196 events from that era on Saeculum.