All language subtitles for D D S01E01 Tsunamis 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DD2 0 H 264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

In this edition of
Deadly Disasters,

we look at two
of the most shocking

natural disasters
of modern times.

When a powerful earthquake
off the coast of Japan

unleashed a huge tsunami
that surged six miles inland,

it destroyed
everything in its path,

killing more than
15,000 people.

It also flooded
the Fukushima Nuclear Plant,

causing a nuclear meltdown.

Perhaps most shockingly,

it actually shifted the earth’s
axis by several centimeters,

making this a natural disaster
on a global scale.

The second tsunami
we investigate,

the South Asian tsunami,

occurred the day
after Christmas.

Also known as
"The Boxing Day Tsunami,"

it is one of Mother Nature’s
most distressing disasters.

It wreaked death
and destruction

on an unprecedented
and wide-reaching scale.

The cause of the disaster

was an undersea
mega-thrust earthquake

off the coast of Sumatra.

The cataclysmic tsunami
that ensued

killed an estimated
280,000 people

in 14 countries

as it deluged
coastal communities

under waves 30 meters high.

Tsunamis are unleashed

when a major disturbance
under the water

creates a series
of enormous waves.

This disturbance can be caused

by a landslide,
volcanic eruption,

and possibly
even a meteorite.

Scientists in the U.S.

have presented geochemical
fingerprint evidence

to suggest
that a gigantic tsunami

may have been caused
by an asteroid

striking the Earth
many thousands of years ago.

The proof may lie
in a deep ocean crater

between Madagascar
and Australia.

They point to curious features

such as the gigantic
Fenambosy Chevron,

near the tip of Madagascar,

which is over 180 meters high

and nearly five kilometers
from the ocean.

This giant tsunami may have
surged around the globe,

possibly more than once,

and inundated every land mass,

apart from
the highest mountains.

Such a disaster would have
altered the coastline

of every continent and killed
almost all life on land.

But 80 percent of tsunamis
are caused by an earthquake.

A tsunami happens
when a large earthquake,

typically of magnitude
greater than 7,

is created by a fault
that ruptures under the sea.

And this fault, when it moves,

it displaces the seabed,
and all of the water above it,

generating a large wave.

A tsunami is a truly terrifying
force of nature.

It can move at hundreds
of kilometers per hour

and then smash into land

with waves
as high as 30 meters,

sometimes more.

But how exactly
do tsunami waves travel?

From the place where the
underwater disturbance occurs,

waves move outwards,

like the ripples
when a stone lands in a pool.

And unlike waves
caused by wind,

which only affects the water
near the surface,

the tsunami involves
a rapid movement of water

all the way down
to the ocean floor.

Out in the open sea,

it may only be the tip of
the huge wave that is visible.

As it heads for land,

the tsunami wave might
only be 30 centimeters high

and pass shipping
unobserved.

It can travel as fast
as a jet airliner,

over vast distances,
and without losing its energy.

But when it approaches
the coast,

the tsunami undergoes
a dramatic transformation.

As it gets close to land,

the tsunami is slowed down
in the shallower coastal water.

This drastically reduces
its speed

from up to 900 kilometers
per hour to around 30.

As the faster moving
water behind

catches up with the slow water
at the front,

it causes a bunching effect,

which leads to a vast increase
in the height of the wave,

from just 30 centimeters,
to as high as 30 meters.

The tsunami
can strike the coast

with a colossal force
of energy,

often in a series of waves
lasting as long as an hour

and reaching as far
as 16 kilometers inland.

Waves can come ashore
for just a few minutes...

or over two hours apart.

The first tsunami wave
is usually not the largest.

It is the following waves that
can be the really big ones.

As the tsunami
rushes over dry land,

it picks up
an enormous amount of debris.

All this gives the tsunami
added destructive power.

People are not only killed
through drowning,

many die as a result
of being hit by heavy objects

in the raging torrent.

A tsunami can subject
a building to colossal forces.

Waves can generate

up to 3000 kg of pressure
per square meter--

enough to blow out modern
reinforced concrete walls.

That amount of pressure would
even knock down a building

designed to withstand
an earthquake.

The Japanese word "tsunami"

translates into English
as "harbor wave."

Japan has long endured
the horror of tsunamis...

and 80 percent
of these devastating waves

occur in the Pacific Ocean.

The word entered
the popular consciousness

after the horrific events
in South Asia,

which became known as,
"The Boxing Day Tsunami."

Sunday, the 26th of December
2004, dawned clear and bright.

All over the Indian Ocean,

people went about
their morning routines.

Western tourists
on their Christmas holidays

flocked to the beaches
of Thailand,

Sri Lanka,
and Indonesia,

enjoying the warm tropical sun

and blue, crystal-clear sea.

They had no way of knowing
that many miles away,

beneath the Indian Ocean,

a fault line in the Earth’s
crust was about to give way

and unleash 200 years
of stored energy.

The resulting
megathrust earthquake

would unleash a tsunami

that created one of the
deadliest natural disasters

in modern history.

It killed over 200,000 people

and devastated
the lives of millions.

The epicenter of the earthquake
was located

about 250 km southeast

of the Indonesian city
of Banda Aceh.

The surface of the world is not
one continuous solid sheet.

It is made up of various
enormous tectonic plates

which slowly move
and shift against each other.

The Asian earthquake

occurred at the eastern edge
of the Indian Ocean,

where over millions of years,

the Indian tectonic plate

has been forced
under the Burma plate.

Like a tightening vise,

tension had been building up
within the subduction zone

for perhaps 200 years,

along a fault line
of over 1000 kilometers.

When the stresses built up

along that fault line
suddenly gave way,

it released
a colossal amount of energy--

equivalent to the explosion

of 23,000 Hiroshima-sized
atomic bombs.

The India Plate literally
shot under the Burma Plate

along the thousand-kilometer
fault line,

creating a magnitude 9
megathrust earthquake.

It was the third most powerful
earthquake ever recorded.

Astonishingly, it caused
the entire planet to vibrate

as much as one centimeter.

Shaking lasted
between eight and 10 minutes,

making it the longest
earthquake in history.

At the earthquake’s epicenter,

the floor of the ocean
was forced upwards

by a monumental 10 meters,

setting off the tsunami

that would destroy the lives
of millions of people.

The powerful earthquake

occurred at around 8 a.m.
local time.

Fifteen minutes later,

the Pacific Tsunami Warning
Center in Hawaii

issued its first warning.

Geologists in the United States

initially rated the quake
as a dangerous magnitude 8.1.

But tragically,
the region of Indonesia

had no tsunami warning system
in place

for the hundreds
of thousands of people

living in the coastal areas.

The warning relies on countries
very far away

like Hawaii,
like Japan,

picking up
on those earthquake signals

that can then trigger
the tsunami alarm.

But it takes time to deliver
that alarm to local people

who might be impacted
by the tsunami.

They’re very useful
for giving advanced warning

because they’re offshore.

However, they can
only give information,

really, about the location
of the earthquake

and the size of the earthquake.

It’s not possible

to actually
give much information

about the tsunami
that might arise.

And despite a delay
of up to several hours,

from the time
of the earthquake

to the impact
of the deadly tsunami,

nearly all of the victims
were caught unawares.

The coastal towns and villages
on the tip of Sumatra,

just 250 miles
from the epicenter,

felt the impact
of the earthquake.

Perhaps if they had known
about tsunamis,

they would have realized
they only had a few minutes

to prepare
for its deadly onslaught.

My first ever tsunami

was the Indian Ocean Tsunami
in 2004.

And when I got there,
I saw the level of devastation

that was happening,
and the lack of understanding

of the basic physics
of tsunamis.

The lack of understanding
of how these waves propagate,

how they propagate onshore,

how they interact
with buildings,

and how they damage structures.

And that got me very interested

in following this area
for my research.

Tsunamis are quite uncommon
in the Indian Ocean.

The first thing
that people who had fled

from collapsing buildings
noticed

was that the sea suddenly
drew back from the shore.

This was a second warning
of the horrors to come

because the undersea event

that disturbs
the waters in the ocean

doesn’t only push water
up into waves,

it can also pull it down
into troughs.

When the trough
reaches the shore,

it will first suck the sea back
from the coastline,

sometimes for several hundred meters.

Along the coast of Sumatra,
the sea withdrew,

and some curious people
went down to the beach

to explore
the newly exposed shore.

But just as quickly
as the ocean had pulled out,

it came rushing back in,

this time in a series
of gigantic waves.

The highest was 30 meters tall

when it smashed into towns
and villages on the coast.

The water rushed inland,

obliterating everything in its path.

One of the few buildings in
Banda Aceh to remain unscathed

was The Baiturrahman
Grand Mosque.

Hundreds of survivors
took refuge there.

Others were not so fortunate.

As the tsunami cut its terrible
swathe across Indonesia,

an estimated 168,000 people
were swept to their deaths.

"My house has been...
It destroyed everything."

Destroyed?
Yes.

Some coastal villages

lost 70 percent
of their population.

That means that in certain
parts of Indonesia,

only three out of every 10
people survived.

The hotels and beaches

on the west coast
of Thailand and Phuket

were full of tourists
enjoying some winter sun.

By the time they heard
the roar of the tsunami,

and the screams of people
telling them to run,

it would have been too late.

The first waves that hit
were up to three meters tall,

followed by waves
that were even higher.

They had such power

that large boats
tied up at piers

were heaved
more than 50 meters inland.

It destroyed
everything in its path.

Tsunami waves
swamped the coast,

and it was two and a half hours

before the sea level
returned to normal.

By that time, more than 5000
people had lost their lives,

including over 2000 tourists
from all over the world.

Many drowned
in their hotel rooms,

while others were out
enjoying the sea

when the wave first struck.

Having decimated Thailand,

the tsunami powered its way
across the Indian Ocean,

hitting the Maldives,

where waves overran
the low-lying islands

and killed 108 people.

Two hours
after the initial earthquake,

the Andaman
and Nicobar Islands

were rocked
by a 7.3 magnitude aftershock.

At about the same time,
the tsunami reached Sri Lanka.

Despite the vast distance
from the original earthquake,

the waves that destroyed
fishing villages

and coastal towns
were still four meters high.

Survivors who lived
100 meters inland

heard people screaming
that the sea was coming.

They thought it was a joke

until they saw
a mass of black water

churning towards their homes.

So when we looked out
over our balcony,

the height of the water...
We got up high--

It was just--
It was incredible to think...

Because it wasn’t
loads of big waves,

it was the same waves,
but just... here.

As many as 31,000 people
lost their lives

on the east of Sri Lanka.

The Tsunami raced on

to the southeast coast
of India,

where nearly 10,000 people
were killed around Chennai.

In Sri Lanka and India,

most of the victims
were women and children.

Many men survived
because they were out fishing

and hardly noticed
the tsunami waves,

which seemed insignificant
out in the open sea.

Meanwhile, their wives
were waiting on beaches

for them to return
with their catches,

or at home with their children,
when the tsunami struck.

When the fishermen returned
to their towns and villages,

they were horrified
to find them utterly destroyed.

Even then, the tsunami
was not finished.

This is an event that only
happens every 500 to 1000 years,

so people don’t have a living
history of tsunamis in the area.

And they were not prepared
for such a large event.

Not only that,
but locally, in Banda Aceh,

they had a natural warning,
which is the ground shaking,

but further away, like in
the Maldives or in Sri Lanka,

they wouldn’t have felt
the ground shaking.

So the arrival of the tsunami
was very much a surprise.

Over seven hours
after the earthquake,

the waves had traveled
some 7000 kilometers

across the vast expanse
of the Indian Ocean

and now reached
the east coast of Africa.

Globally,
five million people

were directly affected
by the disaster.

One-point-seven million
were made homeless,

half a million injured,

and more than 230,000
were killed.

One-point-five million
children

were wounded,
displaced or orphaned.

As well as the human cost,

many irreplaceable
World Heritage Sites

were destroyed or damaged,

including the Old Town of Galle
in Sri Lanka,

the Tropical Rainforest
of Sumatra in Indonesia,

and the Sun Temples
of Konark in India.

Many fishermen survived but
lost everything to the tsunami.

They were left with nothing
with which to earn a living

or feed their families.

As time wore on,

the lack of food, clean water
and medical treatment

only increased the list
of civilian casualties.

There were concerns about
post-tsunami health risks,

most notably
around cholera and malaria.

Now, fresh water,
bottled water,

got on the location
fairly quickly.

And so cholera
didn’t become an epidemic.

And actually, the mosquitoes
that would have caused malaria,

their breeding grounds
were affected by the saltwater

from the tsunami inundation,

so in fact,
malaria wasn’t an issue.

Instead, many survivors
were afflicted

with a new type of pneumonia

which hadn’t been
observed before.

This became known as,
"Tsunami Lung."

Essentially, people who’d been
caught up in the tsunami

had inhaled seawater
with entrained mud and bacteria.

This had led
to a pneumonia-like condition,

which would normally
have been treated

in the early stages
by antibiotics.

But because of the damage
to the health infrastructure,

that wasn’t possible.

And those diseases escalated

into more serious effects

such as paralysis
and abscesses.

Relief workers also faced
the difficult task

of trying to get supplies
into remote areas

where roads had been destroyed.

To make matters worse,

the two places most affected
by the disaster,

Sri Lanka and the Aceh area
of Indonesia,

were both in the middle
of bitter civil conflicts,

which meant that aid work
was fraught with complications.

Nevertheless,
the foreign aid response

to the 2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami

raised 6.25 billion
U.S. dollars,

more than any other
natural disaster to date.

The pledges of aid
from around the world,

particularly from the public,

made this the most generous

and quickly funded humanitarian
response in history.

The quickest is the money
that we can remit immediately.

Next is the surgical equipment
and medicines,

which we can airlift.

Later on,
we want to have clothing

and food stuffs
that we can send by ship,

which we have already arranged.

In the UK, the Disasters
Emergency Committee

raised £10 million
in just one day.

The money went through
a central UN relief fund,

the majority to provide food,
shelter, and health provisions

to the 14 countries
most severely affected

by the tsunami.

Indonesia was
its greatest beneficiary,

receiving a billion dollars’
worth of aid.

Sri Lanka received 650 million,

while India
was granted 150 million.

The World Food Programme
delivered 110,000 tons of food

to the disaster zone within
five months of the emergency--

enough food
for over two million people.

More than U.S. $187 million
of the appeal funding

was spent
on emergency supplies

and to build long-term shelter
for survivors.

After a large disaster,

there is often a scare

that there might be
some rather large epidemics

causing more casualties
and deaths.

And in the case
of the Indian Ocean Tsunami,

this wasn’t the case,
it didn’t materialize.

And this was largely thanks
to people like

the World Health Organization,
international NGOs,

local governments
and health authorities,

really working together
to monitor epidemics,

monitor diseases,
as they started

and so, to stop
the spread of epidemics.

Following the disaster,

13,700 homes were built
in Aceh alone.

The sheer scale
of the disaster,

and the emergency operation
it produced,

enabled aid agencies
to learn valuable lessons

in how to conduct
disaster relief.

Experts realized

that rather than providing
survivors with new homes,

it was often cheaper
and quicker

to give them training
and materials

so that they could build them
on their own.

But why did this tsunami cause
so much death and destruction?

For one thing,
the waves struck coastal areas

that were
densely populated.

Many people in these areas

had also never experienced
a tsunami before

and were largely unaware
of what to look out for,

or how to respond.

This is why advanced warnings
can sometimes be useless.

If you are unable
to get the proper information

out to the people
in immediate danger,

how are you supposed
to protect them?

Luckily, the majority
of the 27 countries

with coastlines
on the Indian Ocean

have since created programs
for issuing tsunami alerts

to their citizens.

Although it is not possible
to protect entire coastlines

from the dangers of tsunamis,

it is possible to educate
people in tsunami-prone areas

about what to look out for

and how to act if a tsunami
is about to strike.

The success of tsunami
education was illustrated

by the extraordinary case
of Tilly Smith.

By an amazing coincidence,

she had studied tsunamis
in a geography lesson

just two weeks before
she and her family set out

on a beach holiday
to Thailand.

When she saw the sea frothing
with bubbles and receding,

she recognized
these danger signs.

Together with her parents,

she warned the other
holiday makers on the beach

who evacuated to safety.

It was one of the few beaches
in the area

with no reported casualties.

Many were not so fortunate.

Ten years
after these terrible events,

the dead were paid ceremonial
tributes by the living.

In Ban Nam Khem,

a fishing village
in southern Thailand

destroyed by the tsunami,

hundreds of lanterns were lit

to symbolize
the spirits of its victims.

Much of the money
that was raised

to help survivors of the South
Asian Tsunami came from Japan.

In fact, Japan was
the most generous donor

to the tsunami relief effort,

committing over
U.S. $500 million,

as well as sending over more
than 100 emergency workers.

In a tragic irony,

Japan required its own relief
aid just seven years later.

The country that had donated
so much

now needed help
from others.

On the 11th of March 2011,

a magnitude 9 earthquake
shook northeastern Japan,

unleashing a savage tsunami.

The effects
of the huge earthquake

reverberated around the world,

from the fjords of Norway,

where the tsunami created
one-and-a-half-meter waves,

to Antarctica in the south,
where satellite photos

revealed the creation
of huge icebergs

caused by tsunami waves
smashing into the ice shelf.

Even years later,
debris from the tsunami

has continued to wash up
on North American beaches.

Despite experiencing
more tsunamis

than any other place
in the world,

Japan was still devastated

because of the failure to plan
for the aftermath

of such a powerful earthquake.

The March 11th earthquake

struck on a Friday at 2:46
in the afternoon, local time.

The epicenter was shallow,

just 24 km beneath the surface
of the sea floor,

and 72 kilometers
from Tohoku on the east coast.

It was the most powerful
earthquake

ever recorded in Japan,

and the fourth most powerful
in the world

since records
were first recorded.

The shaking lasted
about six minutes.

It moved Honshu,
the main island of Japan,

2.4 meters
closer to North America.

It even shifted the Earth’s
axis by several centimeters.

The earthquake that generated
the Japanese Tsunami

occurred along
the Japanese Trench,

in the north part
of the Honshu Island.

It was a massive earthquake

that no one would have thought
could have happened.

And indeed, the Japanese
were not prepared for this.

The Japanese Trench is thought
to be divided into six parts,

and it was only ever thought

that two of these parts
could rupture,

a magnitude earthquake
of up to 8.2.

But in the case
of the 2011 event,

essentially all six
of these parts

of the fault
ruptured in one go,

causing a massive
magnitude 9.0 earthquake,

and ensuing tsunami.

Residents of Tokyo

received a minute’s warning

before the city
began to shake.

Thanks to the country’s strict
earthquake building codes,

many deaths were prevented.

The early warning systems

also caused high-speed trains
to stop,

as well as factory
assembly lines.

Citizens in Japan

also received text alerts
on their mobile phones

warning of both the earthquake
and the tsunami.

But the shaking was only
a prelude to the disaster

that was to engulf the country

Still shaking, you know...
The earthquake happening.

Almost, I feel like,
maybe every hour or so.

The earthquake
caused the sea floor

to thrust upwards by 10 meters

over an area of
14,000 square kilometers--

the size of the whole state
of Connecticut in the U.S.

A vast volume of sea water
was disturbed,

and just like the aftermath
of the Sumatra earthquake,

it caused a colossal tsunami.

Nine minutes
after the earthquake struck,

a regional tsunami alert
was issued.

In the closest area
to the quake,

residents had little more
than 15 minutes of warning

before the first
of the ferocious tsunami waves

pounded the coastline.

Shockingly,
the earthquake had caused

a 400-kilometer stretch
of shoreline to drop

by more than half a meter.

This allowed the tsunami
that quickly followed

to travel further and faster
inland, as far as 10 km.

Thousands of lives were lost,

and entire towns
were wiped off the map,

as waves
of up to 38 meters high

struck the north of Japan’s
eastern Pacific coastline.

They easily overwhelmed
the sea walls

that were not high enough
to resist the giant tsunami.

People tried desperately
to find some area of safety--

higher ground,
or structures tall enough

to raise them above
the seething mass of water,

trees, rocks, and cars.

For every 10 frustrations,

you will possibly get
one good one.

So we just have to keep
plugging away...

Whatever comes up,
we’ll just have to deal with it.

I think they knew
a tsunami was coming,

but I didn’t think
it was going to be this,

you know... big.

It’s getting more difficult
to believe that they are okay.

Buildings as high
as three stories,

where people had imagined
they would be safe,

were easily destroyed.

Structures that caught fire

when ruptured gas mains set
them alight were swept away,

with smoke and flames
pouring off them.

It was like a scene from hell.

At its peak,
the water was 40 meters high.

Half a million people
were forced out of their homes.

When the floodwaters
retreated back to the sea,

they swept out
vast amounts of debris,

as well as
thousands of victims

that had been caught
in the flood.

Near Oarai,

the tsunami generated
a huge offshore whirlpool.

Sendai Airport
had already been badly damaged

by the earthquake.

As the warnings of
the impending tsunami sounded,

people on the ground

fled onto the roofs
of the terminal buildings

and into the control tower.

The floods completely
submerged the tarmac,

taxiways and runway,

and even reached parts

of the second level
of the passenger terminal.

Thirteen hundred people
were stranded

within the terminal
for two days.

By then, the Japanese
had begun to coordinate

their disaster response.

Fifty thousand Japan Defense
Forces personnel,

190 aircraft, and 25 ships
were urgently deployed

to help with rescue efforts.

The tsunami waves
triggered by the earthquake

traveled right
across the Pacific.

They were still powerful enough
to reach 3.6 meters high

when they hit
the Hawaiian Islands.

Several hours later,

the coasts of California
and Oregon in North America

were struck by tsunami waves
that were 2.7 meters high.

Even Chile,
some 17,000 km away,

was struck by tsunami waves
which were two meters high

when they reached the shore.

Eighteen hours after the quake,

waves reached
the coast of Antarctica

and caused
125 square kilometers

of the Sulzberger Ice Shelf
to crack off its outer edge.

The tsunami was alarming
in its global reach.

But even more alarming

were fears
of a forthcoming disaster

that were beginning to emerge

from the Fukushima
Nuclear Power Plant,

located on the coast,
65 km south of Sendai.

First commissioned in 1971,

the plant consisted
of six boiling water reactors

and 4.7 gigawatts
of electrical energy,

making Fukushima one of the
largest nuclear power stations

in the world.

By chance,
three of the six reactors

were already offline
for maintenance work

when the earthquake struck.

As soon as the earthquake
was detected,

early warning systems
kicked in

and automatically
shut down power

to the remaining
three reactors.

At this point, the only thing
cooling the plant

was the reactor’s emergency
diesel generators

and DC batteries.

These were located
in the basements

of the reactor
turbine buildings.

This obviously made them
vulnerable to flooding,

a concern that had been raised
at the time of construction.

In order to protect
the low-lying generator

from the risks of flooding,

a 5.8-meter sea wall
was constructed.

The Fukushima
designers assumed

that this would provide
adequate protection

for the maximum wave height
of any tsunami.

But they were gravely mistaken.

An hour after
the automated shutdown,

a 14-meter tsunami wave
hit the nuclear facility.

It quickly burst
over the 5.8-meter seawall

and flooded the plant,

disabling all but one
of the underground generators.

Most of the emergency systems
which were supposed to cool

the generator’s
nuclear cores failed.

Only one portion
remained in operation--

a team and battery system
which hadn’t been used,

or even tested, in 40 years.

They seem to have lost
their outside power connections.

And worse still, the emergency
diesel generators that start up,

snap into action,
to keep the reactor cool,

they failed as well.

At 9 p.m.,
on the day of the tsunami,

the Japanese government
declared a nuclear emergency.

Sixty to 70 thousand people

living within three kilometers
of the plant

were ordered to evacuate.

The situation in Fukushima
is evolving every day,

and we do accept that
there are a number of issues

that we have to tackle.

On the 12th of March,
the day after the tsunami,

the emergency backup battery
for reactor three ran out,

leaving the radioactive
fuel rods dangerously exposed.

The evacuation zone
was expanded to 20 km.

On the 13th of March,

the situation
was declared a level 4

on the internationally
recognized scale

of nuclear events,

meaning that this was now
a nuclear accident

posing a danger to all life
in the local environment.

The lack of power resulted
in intermittent blackouts

for parts of Tokyo
and eight nearby prefectures.

Up to 45 million people

would be subject
to life without electricity

for up to a month.

On the 14th of March,

a major explosion occurred
in one of the reactors

raising the threat level to 6
and designating it

as a serious nuclear accident.

Two days later,

Emperor Akihito
gave a rare public address.

He urged the nation
not to give up hope,

stating that they needed
to understand

and help each other.

A televised address
by a sitting emperor

is an extraordinarily
rare event,

happening only in times of war
or extreme crisis.

It confirmed to Japan,

and the rest
of the watching world,

just how grave
the situation had become.

About twice as many people
will require evacuation

under a MOX
fuel reactor accident.

About one and a half times more
will die in the interim.

And about two
to three times more

will actually die
in the longer term.

So it has a very significant
radiological impact

on the aftermath of an accident.

Over the following days,

there were more explosions
and a fire.

Radiation was now leaking
from the plant.

The authorities
brought in helicopters

to drop water
on the exposed fuel rods

and sent fire engines
from Tokyo

to spray water
on the damaged reactors.

The spent fuel rods
are stored in ponds

located
close to the reactors.

And one in particular,
the pond in reactor 4,

is the cause
of very considerable concern.

Basically, what has happened

is that this has been damaged
by explosions in that pond

and is leaking very far.

The situation grew worse

as white, billowing smoke
became visible

from two of the reactors.

Three days later, technicians
monitoring the reactors

suspected a breach in one
of the containment vessels.

This meant
that radioactive water

could now be leaking
from the power plant.

The US Navy went to the aid of
the beleaguered nuclear plant,

as a barge with 8.3 million
liters of fresh water

arrived at the scene.

The evacuation zone
was extended

to a radius of 30 kilometers
around the plant,

forcing 100,000 people
to leave the area.

An aerial video was taken,

showing the first
detailed images

of the extent of the damage
to the nuclear plant.

TEPCO, the company
who owned Fukushima,

seemed unable to properly
resolve the situation

and avoid a probable disaster.

What was happening at Fukushima

was now causing major concern
all over the world.

U.S. authorities
in the state of Washington

admitted to finding traces
of radioactive iodine in milk.

On the 3rd of April,

the bodies of two missing
workers were found on the site.

They had died from injuries
caused by the tsunami.

Next, the plant was rocked
by an aftershock measuring 7.1,

causing workers to evacuate

the plant
as quickly as possible.

The incident at Fukushima

was raised again to level 7--

the highest possible
classification.

Not since the 1986 explosion
at Chernobyl,

in the former Soviet Union,

had the world faced a nuclear
disaster on this scale.

In the case of Chernobyl,
apart from the devastation

in the immediate neighborhood
of the reactor,

there was a huge fire,

which carried the radioactivity
very high into the stratosphere

and eventually,
around the globe.

After Chernobyl,
or maybe worse than Chernobyl,

probably the most serious
nuclear accident

that is likely to ever occur,

because we have the possibility

of four nuclear reactors
melting down, exploding,

and releasing hundreds of tons
of nuclear fuel

into the environment.

There was now the risk

of a major release
of radioactive material

with widespread danger
to health and the environment.

The site was so dangerous

that two robots
were sent into the plant

to assess the situation.

Their findings confirmed
that radiation levels

were now the highest
yet recorded.

Ten weeks
after the crisis first began,

the president of TEPCO
was forced into resignation

as Japan’s Nuclear Emergency
Response Headquarters

reported that three
of the reactors

had gone
into complete meltdown.

Levels of plutonium

and other
radioactive particles

were found outside
the 30 km evacuation zone

around the stricken plant.

While efforts continued
to remove contaminated water

from beneath the power plant,

it was not until nine months
after the tsunami

that authorities
announced a timetable

for decommissioning
the reactors.

They admitted that it will take
30 to 40 years

to fully resolve
this terrifying disaster.

An interim report
into the incident

concluded that both
the Japanese government

and employees in charge
of the nuclear facility

contributed to the severity
of the catastrophe.

Two years after the earthquake

and ensuing tsunami,

thousands marched
onto the streets

of Japan’s capital Tokyo,

urging the government to turn
its back on nuclear power.

The battle to control
the radioactive water

which is pooled
under the Fukushima plant

remains ongoing.

In June 2014,

work began to install
the equipment

needed to create an ice wall.

At a cost of U.S. $324 million
in public funds,

1500 tubes
filled with sea water

were sunk 30 meters deep
in a ring

which stretched 1.5 kilometers
around the plant.

The plan was to cool
the sea water

to minus 30 degrees Celsius.

That would freeze the soil
into a solid wall,

and block groundwater
flowing under the plant,

and adding to the vast pool
of contaminated water.

By December 2015,

all the necessary equipment
was in place.

And three months later,

it began to create
the wall of frozen soil.

On top of the building costs,

maintaining the ice wall

consumes roughly
44 million kilowatt hours

of electricity every year.

That’s enough energy

to power around 15,000
typical Japanese homes.

Still in operation,

it has not proved to be
as successful as hoped.

In March 2018,
a government-commissioned panel

said it was only
partially effective.

As water continues
to seep under the plant,

it becomes radioactive,

resulting in vast amounts
of toxic water.

This first needs
to be pumped out,

then decontaminated,

and finally stored
in vast tanks at Fukushima.

To date,
there are now 1000 tanks

holding a staggering
1 million tons of wastewater.

If things continue as they are,

they will simply run out
of space by early 2021.

One of the most
heartrending stories

to emerge from the disaster
was what happened

to the children
of Okawa Elementary School,

located in Ishinomaki,

322 kilometers north of Tokyo
in the Miyagi Prefecture.

The tragedy that unfolded

revealed emergency
planning problems

that led to terrible
losses of life.

Though the teachers
knew exactly what to do

in the case of an earthquake,

they had no clear
evacuation plan

in the case of a tsunami.

They even ignored
repeated warnings

from some concerned pupils

suggesting they should
make for higher ground.

At 3:30 p.m.,
following an earthquake,

it became clear that something
terrible was about to happen.

There was no time to escape.

The school, the teachers,
the parents and their children

were all engulfed
by a 20-meter wall of water

and hurling debris.

Of the 78 children
who were at school,

all but four
perished instantly.

Only one of the eleven teachers
survived.

The scale of the human tragedy
at Okawa Elementary School

is almost impossible
to comprehend.

An investigation
into what had happened

said that not only the school,

but also
the board of education,

as well as the city government,

had made no plans

for such an unprecedented
natural disaster.

A map which showed those areas
vulnerable to tsunamis

did not include the school.

And the school’s
disaster manual

didn’t consider
the dangers of a tsunami,

meaning that
prior to the tsunami,

no evacuation drills
were ever conducted.

Parents of 23 of the children
who had lost their lives

sued the city authorities
for negligence.

On the 26th of October 2016,

the courts announced
their verdict.

The Okawa parents
won their case

and were awarded
1.4 billion yen.

The earthquake
and resulting tsunami

destroyed roughly 28,000 homes
in Ishinomaki.

The city lost more than 3000
of its residents,

with almost as many
reported missing.

In 2015, they were visited
by Prince William,

the Duke of Cambridge,

who insisted
that he not travel to Japan

without meeting face-to-face
with victims of the tsunami.

He was told by the former head
of the city’s daily newspaper

that for most
of Ishinomaki’s citizens,

the tsunami loomed larger than
the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Cities all over
the Miyagi Prefecture

were caught
in the onslaught.

In the city of Kesennuma,

a fleet of massive tuna ships
was swept far inland

and dumped
along the highway.

One of them remained there
for several years.

For some, it was seen
as an accidental monument,

a standing testament
to their miraculous survival.

For others,
it was a stark reminder

of their terrible loss.

In an assessment

of the country’s response
to the disaster,

some disturbing facts
emerged.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency

was found to have issued
a tsunami warning,

which severely underestimated
the actual size of the wave.

This could be
one of the reasons why,

despite feeling the earthquake,

only 58 percent of people

in areas such as
Fukushima and Miyagi

made for the safety
of higher ground.

Many people
didn’t take the risk

to their personal safety
seriously enough.

They had lived
through tsunamis before

and assumed that this one
would be no different.

When you land in these areas

and you see just the extent
of devastation,

all the housing washed away,
there’s nothing there,

and people’s possessions
are littered everywhere,

it really,
it really brings to the fore

how devastating
something like this is...

not only
to the built environment,

but to actual people.

There is a hope, I think,
amongst engineers,

that we can learn
from mistakes of the past

and design, build better,

maybe avoid putting people
in harm’s way.

The effects of the tsunami will
be with us for years to come,

not only in the ongoing efforts

to contain the nuclear disaster
at Fukushima,

but with the debris

that continues
to float around our oceans.

It shows us all too clearly

that it doesn’t matter
where on the planet you live,

we all suffer
the consequences

of Mother Nature’s
deadly disasters.