When a huge earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, devastating towns and triggering nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture, a stunned world watched the chaotic struggle to contain the world¡¯s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
An onslaught of waves sparked by the 9.0 magnitude quake crashed into the country¡¯s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and crippling the Fukushima No. 1 plant. More than 160,000 residents fled as radiation spewed into the air.
At the time, some ¡ª including then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan ¡ª feared Tokyo would need to be evacuated, or worse.
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