Disaster In Japan

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It was March 13,2011 a little before 3 in the afternoon, when a magnitude 9 earthquake struck the northeast coast of Japan. Earthquakes are frequent occurrences in Japan and people are so used to this phenomenon. They don't panic and continue their normal activities during an earthquake, but this one was different. It followed by at least 50 aftershocks and a tsunami. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the Pacific ocean 80 miles off the coast of Sendai. It took the devastating wave 15 minutes to slam the shores, unleashing a 4 meter ( 13 foot ) tsunami. The wave was mixed with mud. It swept ships and cars, smashed them into the wooden houses. The devastating wave ripped the houses out of their foundations and dragged tons of debris up to three miles inland. The Houses caught on fire moving with the tsunami. In one area, a highway split along the centerline, like a perforated paper. One half of the road ended up as high as 6 feet above the other. The aftershocks were like a gigantic roller coaster ride, with no known end. According to the eyewitnesses, " There was nowhere to run when you have something coming so fast towards you.", "A tremor to remember." ,"We were completely unprepared for this....All of a sudden bam, it just hit. You could tell this was different instantly from other little tremors we've had before. It just picked up in intensity." The disaster did not end there. As the result of the earthquake and tsunami, some of Japan's nuclear power plants caught on fire and exploded. The explosions raised serious health concerns over the release of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The radiation level reported so far is far above normal and have contaminated their drinking water, milk and vegetables. As of now, near 9 thousand people have been confirmed dead and over 13,000 are missing. The real impact of the radiation on people is still

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