TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed on Monday to speed up rebuilding from the huge earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis that struck Japan's northeast two years ago, promising that the nation would emerge stronger from its worst disaster since World War Two.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m., triggering tsunami waves as high as 30 meters (100 feet) that swept away residents and their homes. Nearly 19,000 people died and some 315,000 evacuees were stranded, including refugees from radiation spewed from the devastated Fukushima atomic plant.