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The Earthquake Occurs
At 2:46pm, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake takes place 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan. (8.9 = original recorded magnitude; later upgraded to 9.0) (0:46 ET/5:46 GMT) -
After shock occurs, casuing nuclear scare.
Overnight, a 6.2 magnitude aftershock hits the Nagano and Niigata prefecture (USGS).
- At 5:00am, a nuclear emergency is declared at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Officials report the earthquake and tsunami have cut off the plant's electrical power, and that backup generators have been disabled by the tsunami.
- Another aftershock hits the west coast of Honshu - 6.3 magnitude. (5:56am) -
Evacutation starts.
People living within 10km (6.2 miles) of the Fukushima Daini and 20km of the Fukushima Daiichi power plants begin a government-ordered evacuation. The total evacuated so far is about 185,000.
- 50,000 Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel, 190 aircraft and 25 ships are deployed to help with rescue efforts. -
Nuclear Explosion
- An explosion at the Daiichi plant No. 3 reactor causes a building's wall to collapse, injuring six. The 600 residents remaining within 30 kilometers of the plant, despite an earlier evacuation order, have been ordered to stay indoors.
- The No. 2 reactor at the Daiichi plant loses its cooling capabilities. Officials quickly work to pump seawater into the reactor, as they have been doing with two other reactors at the same plant, and the situation is resolved. Workers scramble to cool down fue
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More Nuclear explosion
The third explosion at the Daiichi plant in four days damages the suppression pool of reactor No. 2, similar to an explosion occurring at No. 1 over the weekend. Water continues to be injected into "pressure vessels" in order to cool down radioactive material. -
Threat of more radiation leak.
Gregory Jaczko, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, tells U.S. Congress spent fuel rods in the No. 4 reactor have been exposed because there "is no water in the spent fuel pool," resulting in the emission of "extremely high" levels of radiation. -
Threat level rises
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency raises the threat level from four to five, putting it on a par with the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania. The International Nuclear Events Scale says a Level Five incident means there is a likelihood of a release of radioactive material, several deaths from radiation and severe damage to the reactor core. -
Threat levels rises to highest level.
Japan's nuclear agency raises the Fukushima Daiichi crisis from Level 5 to a Level 7 event, the highest level, signifying a "major accident". It is now on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union, which amounts to a "major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures." -
More Evacutation
The Japanese government recommends more evacuations of households 50 to 60 km northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The government said higher radiation is monitored sporadically in this area. -
Period: to
Two year clean up!!!
From this time is just them cleaning up and trying to contain the radiation thats seeping into the water -
Radiation leak into water
TEPCO admits that radioactive groundwater is leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi site, bypassing an underground barrier built to seal in the water. -
Radation in water
Japan's nuclear watchdog Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) says a toxic water leak at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant has been classified as a level 3 "serious incident" on an eight-point International Nuclear Event Scale (lINES) scale.