Twitter could be faster at detecting earthquakes, bushfires, floods, cyclones and even terrorist attacks than conventional emergency sources with new CSIRO software monitoring tweets and the automatic alerting of emergency services.

Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, also called Great Sendai Earthquake or Great Tōhoku Earthquake, severe natural disaster that occurred in northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. The event began with a powerful earthquake off the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island, which caused widespread damage on land and initiated a series of large tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas of the country, most notably in the Tōhoku region (northeastern Honshu). The tsunami also instigated a major nuclear accident at a power station along the coast.

Fukushima accident, also called Fukushima nuclear accident or Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi (“Number One”) plant in northern Japan, the second worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power generation. The site is on Japan’s Pacific coast, in northeastern Fukushima prefecture about 100 km (60 miles) south of Sendai. The facility, operated by the Tokyo Electric and Power Company (TEPCO), was made up of six boiling-water reactors constructed between 1971 and 1979. At the time of the accident, only reactors 1–3 were operational, and reactor 4 served as temporary storage for spent fuel rods.

The magnitude 9.0 Tohoku or Sendai Earthquake () struck just off the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan on 11 March 2011 making it the fourth largest earthquake to be recorded since 1900, and the largest Japanese earthquake since modern seismometers were developed 130 years ago. Despite the earthquake being much more powerful than had been expected from the subduction zone east of Honshu, the earthquake preparedness of Japan resulted in relatively little earthquake damage-despite the protracted shaking with ground accelerations up to three times that of gravity. However, it was the resulting 10-15 metre high tsunami waves that wreaked havoc along the coastal plain, resulting in a death toll in the tens of thousands and an on-going drama at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant.

The article offers information on earthquakes. Described as movements of rock within the Earth's crust, earthquakes may also result from volcanic eruptions such as those that occur in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Details regarding the devastation brought by the earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand on February 22, 2011 are presented. The environmental damages caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011 are also described.

The article discusses Japan's Sendai Earthquake and resulting tsunami of March 11, 2011, focusing on its impact within the seismology community and on Japan. Other topics include how scientists are attempting to improve geological disturbances, the promotion of flooding forecasts over the more typical incoming wave height reports for helping residents prepare, and the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) array.