On March 11, 2011, the magnitude nine quake itself produced a tsunami with waves up to 10 meters high that ravaged large areas of the northeast coast.

The dead or missing toll exceeded 22,000, according to the official count of the Japanese government, while tens of thousands of inhabitants were forced to leave their homes.

In Fukushima itself, more than 24,000 residents are still unable to return to their homes because of the unprecedented disaster and its long-term effects.

According to scientists, the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami caused the cores of some reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi (Uno) nuclear power plant, owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), to melt down.

Several experts believe that reactors one, two and three of the facility harbor about 880 tons of debris, as the mixture of melted nuclear fuel with material belonging to the reactor structure is defined in this case.

Radiation levels at the site are extremely high, making it difficult to remove the debris from the plant, whose tragedy is seen as one of the worst nuclear accidents in the history of the entire planet.

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