Tragedy in Japan - three disasters in one day
On this day in (engineering) history… March 11, 2011 – The Fukushima Disaster – Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident in one. The most powerful earthquake in Japanese history caused a massive tsunami, three nuclear meltdowns, the deaths of nearly 20,000 people, with another 6,000 people injured and 2,500 people missing. Even ten years later, almost a quarter of a million people were still living in temporary accommodation of one sort or another. This was the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (the Great East Japan Earthquake, or 3.11 – san ten ichi-ichi in Japanese), which swamped 2,000km (1,242 miles) of Japan’s northeast coast. It also caused the most serious nuclear accident since the explosion at Chornobyl in 1986. Powers greater than we can imagine On the cold, wintery afternoon…