Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, Natural disaster that occurred in northeastern Japan in 2011. A magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck off Honshu island on March 11, 2011. It caused widespread damage on land and initiated a series of tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas of Japan, most notably in the Tōhoku region. Officially, about 18,500 people were killed or reported missing and presumed dead, and hundreds of thousands were displaced. In addition, the tsunami instigated a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which resulted in the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents from the surrounding area.
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