Tragedyof March 11, 2011 in Japan that combined natural disasters – a powerfulearthquake, and tsunami – with a terrible catastrophe – an accident on thenuclear power plant “Fukushima-1” has acquired a truly world-wide character andhas inflicted enormous losses on the country’s economy. But in such a difficulttime people of Japan showed admirable solidarity and endurance. The earthquake occurred on March 11,2011 at 14:46 on localtime.
However, the number of victims directly from seismic shock was phenomenallysmall: no more than 8 percent. The main and most terrible consequence of theearthquake was the tsunami. It was giant, in some places up to 39 meters high.A wave became the main cause of death of tens of thousands of people. Tsunamihas also became the root cause of the accident at the nuclear power plant”Fukushima-1″ that caused contamination with radionuclides of a vast territoryof the land and coastal waters. Thegreat East Japan earthquake can be called a “black day” in thehistory of the country. At that time, Prime Minister Kan Naoto declared thatthe consequences of the earthquake, tsunami and the accident at the Fukushima-1nuclear power plant were the largest national disaster since the Second WorldWar1.
Thus, the reconstruction of the country was the greatest challenge that facedJapan.The country’s authorities have demonstrated excellent resilience and theability to overcome a difficult situation. Local authorities in the affectedprefectures were on top.Immediately after the earthquake, emergency measures were launched to savelives of people in the affected areas and eliminate the consequences of thedisaster. They included organization of rescue operations, resettlement ofpeople to safe areas, cleaning of blockages,monitoring of the radiation situation around “Fukushima-1”, control over foodand water safety, financial support to the population and enterprises of theaffected areas, assistance to prefectural and municipal authorities inrestoring life support systems, etc. One of the first were restored the railwaylines connecting the Tohoku and Kanto regions and serving the bulk of cargo andpassenger traffic between them. The airport in Sendai was put into operationagain very quickly (by the end of March, 2011).
Restorations works of the roadsthat ran along the northeastern coast and served as the main communicationchannels to the outside world for many small towns and villages were heldalmost in a round-the-clock mode.1
