EARTHQUAKES - LDCs VS MDCs

As well as being the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world, lasting for six whole minutes and having a magnitude of 9.0 MMS, the Tohoku Earthquake was also the costliest - with the highest insurance and rebuilding costs of any earthquake ever.

The earthquake also triggered a massively powerful tsunami, the waves reaching up to 40.5 metres above ground. Additionally, it moved the very Earth on its axis by an estimated 10-25cm, and generated sound waves which could be detected by a low-orbiting satellite.

Three hundred hospitals or more were also destroyed by either the earthquake or the tsunami (or both), as well as approximately 230,000 vehicles. 24-25 million tons of rubble and debris were created by the disaster.