The earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, in northern Japan killed over 20,000 people and a few thousand may suffer from slow radiation poisoning over the next few decades. Global worries about radioactive material entering the human food chain are real as winds and ocean currents spread the radioactive waste.
On April 3, newspapers reported the following about Fukushima reactors: An eight-inch crack was discovered in the maintenance pit with radioactive seawater flowing into the sea.