Fifteen years ago, a massive earthquake and tsunami smashed into Japan's East coast causing widespread destruction and a catastrophic loss of power at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
The world held its breath as a nuclear disaster unfolded.
Today, 15 years later, the crisis continues.
Against a backdrop of rising global nuclear tensions with multiple nuclear weapon states involved in wars, the lessons from the devastation that unraveled in Fukushima are more urgent than ever.
On that day 15 years ago, the nuclear reactors melted down. This catastrophe caused a mass evacuation of around 150,000 people, hundreds of billions of dollars damage and an ecological crisis as massive amounts of radioactive poison was released into the air and ocean.
In August 2012, I joined a delegation of international monitors and public health experts to visit the Fukushima region and tour the nuclear exclusion zone.
We met people whose lives had been irreparably changed. We drove through abandoned regions and towns empty of both people and hope.
We met with elderly evacuees in temporary housing who would never return home. We heard stories of individual bravery and corporate indifference, all to the sinister soundtrack of a disturbingly active radiation counter.
These snapshots and stories remain vivid for me today. And in the wider world, the crisis continues.
