Fukushima

Fukushima is a Japanese prefecture, with a population of almost 2.000.000 inhabitants, but didn’t get much attention before the “2011 Tōhoku earthquake” and the following tsunami, that ultimately resulted in a partial nuclear meltdown at the “Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

At 14.46 local time, on the 11th of march 2011, the seabed began to tremble, 70 km east of the coast, 28 kilometres below sea level. It was the most violent earthquake ever recorded in Japan, ad the fourth most powerful ever measured in the world.
Japans main island was, according to the New York times, moved 2,4 metres east, and the earth itself shifted more than 10 centimetres on its axis.

The Tsunami, created by the earthquake, was 14 metres high, more than two times the hight the power plants seawall was designed to withstand. Sea water filled the basement where the cooling pumps and generators were, resulting in three nuclear meltdowns and there hydrogen explotions.

A vast area surrounding the plant was evacuated, including several towns. These towns attract visitors, and since 2018 there have been official tours for “dark tourists” interested in the asian chernobyl.