Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition Â© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 Â© HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Cite This Source
According to Oxfam, five million people were affected of which 1.7m were made homeless, half a million were injured and more than 230,000 were killed. The TEC said 40,000 to 45,000 more women than men were killed in the tsunami.
A powerful tsunami travelling 800km per hour with 10m-high waves swept over the east coast of Japan, killing more than 18,000 people. The tsunami was spawned by an 9.0 magnitude earthquake that reached depths of 24.4km-making it the fourth-largest earthquake ever recorded. Approximately 452,000 people were relocated to shelters, and still remain displaced from their destroyed homes.