Japan's Triple Calamity: Meltdown of Japan's Triple Calamity

On the afternoon of March 11, 2011, the fourth-most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the world hit northeastern Japan, killing thousands of people and leaving several more injured. Within minutes, the earthquake triggered powerful tsunami with waves reaching height of 40.5 meters in Tōhoku and Sendai, East Japan. The tsunami caused a nuclear accident in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) complex.

The triple disaster – earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident – had a devastating impact on the people and the environment. It led to a massive loss of life and property, and was the costliest natural disaster in world history as per the World Bank. Apart from this, the radioactive emission from the nuclear plant contaminated a wide area. Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water. Sectors like automobile, electronics, fisheries, power, agriculture, etc. were disrupted by the disaster while there was unprecedented damage to housing and the infrastructure industry. Analysts feared that though the material loss could be compensated over the next 5-10 years, it would be a challenging task to console people suffering from psychological trauma.