A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck in Japan on March 11, 2010, off the northeastern coast of Honshu causing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and considerable damage in the region. The tsunami resulted in a human death toll of about 19,500 and much damage to coastal ports and towns, with over a million buildings destroyed or partly collapsed.
It was a rare and complex double quake giving a severe duration of about 3 minutes. An area of the seafloor extending 650 km north-south moved typically 10-20 meters horizontally. Japan moved a few yards east and the local coastline sank about 1.5 feet (half a meter.) More
