Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami: One Year of Recovery

The impact of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami was devastating -- it actually shifted the axis of the Earth's rotation.  It was the most powerful earthquake to ever hit Japan, and one of the top five most powerful earthquakes in the world.  There were:

• 15,850 deaths
• 6,011 people injured
• 3,287 people missing, and
• 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed
• radiation leaks, caused by partial meltdowns at the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant and other reactors
• and a cost estimated at US$235 billion, making it the most expensive natural disaster in world history.

Even more remarkable was what happened immediately after disaster stuck:

• Japan quickly mobilized its national defense forces and other emergency responders to serve and protect the over 300,000 displaced people and search for survivors.
• 400 workers at Fukushima stayed onsite risking their lives to prevent a complete meltdown of epic proportions.
• Worldwide aid organizations responded immediately, with the Japanese Red Cross receiving over $1 billion in donations.
• Americans donated $630.2 million, over 1/3 of the global aid to charitable organizations serving victims.  
• According to the Japan Center for International Exchange, "Thousands of schools, churches, and community organizations around the United States held fundraising drives to support organizations helping Japan, and more than 120 individual US organizations acted as intermediaries to channel funds to Japanese recipients on the ground. Forty of these groups raised more than $1 million each in donations, and a dozen surpassed $5 million."

Below are videos from many of the organizations that responded, and continue to serve, the victims of the earthquake and tsunami.