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At 2:46pm, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake takes place 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan, at a depth of 15.2 miles.
The earthquake causes a tsunami with 30 ft waves that damage several nuclear reactors in the area. -
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 tsunam
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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.
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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.
