The 2011 TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami, officially named the Great East Japan Earthquake, was caused by a 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on March 11, 2011.
The earthquake’s magnitude makes it the most powerful known earthquake to have hit Japan, and one of the five most powerful earthquakes in the world overall since modern record-keeping began in 1900.
The earthquake triggered destructive tsunami waves of up to 37.9 metres that struck Japan, in some cases travelling up to 10 km inland. Over 13,000 deaths are confirmed, with another 15,000 reportedly missing. The earthquake and tsunami also caused a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant.
You can help the disaster relieve effort by donating to some of relevant charity organisations (make sure it’s legit), or via Google’s Crisis Response in which your contributions will be channelled to the Red Cross Japan.
With reference from Wikipedia. Below are some videos of the disaster…
Massive quake triggers tsunami in Japan
Huge tsunami waves smashing town in Japan
Apocalyptic scenes in tsunami worst-hit Japan areas
