Tsunami in Japan

In March 2011, an earthquake, measured an 8.9 on the Richter scale by the US Geological Survey, in the Pacific Ocean caused a mammoth tsunami 39 meters high to hit Japan reaching inland as far as six miles in Sendai. The earthquake has many aftershocks, and multiple waves subsequently occur. The number of deaths and missing ranges from source to source. I think it is safe to say that the tsunami in responsible for around 18,500 to 22,000 confirmed dead and missing as well as about 7,000 injured. This event also caused nuclear power plants to lose power, disabling their cooling capabilities. Workers scramble to pump seawater as well as using the aid of helicopters to dump water into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as well as others, but multiple explosions and complete meltdowns occur across the nation, leaving Japan with only 18 of their 54 nuclear power plants producing electricity by late July. The explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant released nuclear radiation into the atmosphere, forcing the Japanese government to order 90,000 evacuated form the "hot zone." Numerous nongovernmental organizations, such as the Red Cross, raise money to help Japan in their relief effort. The American population was deeply affected by this natural disaster and donated almost a quarter-billion dollars as soon as a month after the event. The 2011 tsunami demonstrated that even a first world country with extensive economical and technical resources are not immune to natural disasters—disasters which will only become more frequent as Earth's temperatures steadily increase.