17-12-2022
NATECH Disasters
At 2:46 in the afternoon, on March 11th, 2011, a 9.0-magnitudeearthquake caused a 55.88 meters tsunami wave that reached 6 miles inland.Houses and business buildings were reduced to piles of scattered wood, vehicles were carried away by the rushing water, and boats lay on the streets. Asthe water receded, debris and people were dragged back into the ocean. Thisearthquake and the subsequent tsunami caused two of the nuclear reactorsclosest to the epicenter to shut down. The inundation caused by the tsunamialso led to the failure of the backup generators. With the power source and backup power source shut off, the reactor cores overheatedcausing the fuel rods to partially melt and burn through the containmentvessels, exposing the nuclear material, releasing radiation into the atmosphere.This and the accumulation of hydrogen gas set off a fire. Theyattempted to stabilize the reactors by pumping seawater into them. Drainagefrom the water caused further contamination in the surrounding ocean causing the need for a mass evacuation from those lands as well. The official total of dead and missing was nearly 20,000.
