Houses and buildings are seen washed away by massive tsunami waves after a powerful quake in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 11, 2011. [Photo/IC]

March 11, 2011: Nearly 18,900 killed when a tsunami triggered by a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake slams into the northeast coast of Japan, triggering a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.