Quake Leaves Destruction, Fear

People in Japan face a catastrophe that has gone from terrible to tragic. The disaster began as an earthquake that launched a powerful ocean wave, called a tsunami, that caused destruction all along the coast. Those natural disasters damaged a cluster of nuclear reactors in Japan, leading to one of the worst nuclear disasters in recent years. "My homeland has been struck by a tragedy of cataclysmic proportions. This has been one of the greatest natural disasters of modern times, the full extent of which is still becoming clear," said Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in a press conference on March 14. "The events of the last few days are truly unprecedented."