On this day, March 11, in 2011, a powerful 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck Japan just off the northeast coast of Honshu. Because of the earthquake, a tsunami formed and appeared at the coast within thirty minutes.
This horrific event resulted in more than 18,000 deaths, including thousands of victims who were never found. More than 123,000 homes were destroyed and millions more were damaged. The earthquake and tsunami caused more than $220 billion in damages making it the most expensive natural disaster in history.
Japan took most of the hit from the tsunami and earthquake, but the event was felt in a lot of other places such as Hawaii, California, French Polynesia, Galapagos Islands, Peru, and Chile. Only two lives were lost outside of Japan, one in California and one in Indonesia.
There were hundreds of aftershocks from the earthquake, dozens of them being at a magnitude of 6.0 or greater and two of a magnitude of 7.0 or greater, for days and weeks after the main earthquake. Nearly two years later, on December 7, 2012, a magnitude 7.3 tremor came from the same plate boundary region.
After the event the government set a 10-year goal to clean-up all debris, restore infrastructure, and housing. As of now, roads, bridges, railways, airports, and houses have been rebuilt, but the nuclear power station in Fukushima doesn’t expect to be fully recovered for 30-40 years.
