An earthquake of 9.0 magnitude hit eastern Japan at 14:46 JSP on Friday 11 March 2011. It lasted for 6 minutes leaving 15,853 people killed, 215,000 found homeless and 2,652 missing. 40 million people were left without water. The earthquake left 1.2 million homes with no power or water .It was 6.2 miles deep and was felt 300 miles away in Tokyo. The earth surface is actually made up of huge pieces of flat rock called tectonic plates. They float on top of a layer of softer, squidgy rock called the mantle. The plates move very slowly, over millions of years, and where they come together is called a fault. When the plates rub together, the movement forces waves of energy to come to the Earth's surface. This causes tremors and shakes - and these are called earthquakes. They can cause huge amounts of damage, particularly in cities and built-up areas, where buildings, roads and bridges can collapse. Japan is located along "The Ring Of Fire." It Start from new Zealand, up though Japan, across to Alaska and down to the west coasts of North and South American. The seismic shocks caused 212 fires, 582 roads cut off, 32 bridges were destroyed, 50.000 damaged house and radiation within 80 km radius of fukushima nuclear plants. Nuclear radiation killed 9,000 people and 16,000 people homeless. Iwaste, ibaraki, miyagi and fukushima were the worst part hit. The Japan Red Cross is helping Japan with emergency plans helping with first aid and emergency health care. Akiko, Tokyo At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table. I've lived in Japan for 30 years and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake." Ichirou, Tokyo My apartment was shook up several minutes. I live on the top floor and the building started moving slow at first then more and more violently. I was scared for m