20 May 2011 Last updated at 10:42

In pictures: Tsunami hits Fukushima nuclear power plant

Tsunami breaching the power plant's defences (Image: TEPCO)

The force of the tsunami meant that Japan's Fukushima nuclear power station's sea defences offered minimal resistance to the onslaught that was set to engulf the power station.

Once the defences were broken, little stood between the wall of water and the nuclear power plant, located on Japan's north-eastern shores.

Taken by a worker from a fourth-floor office, this image shows the first waters of the tsunami breaching the power plant's buildings.

Tsunami battering the power plant (Image: TEPCO)

Within seconds, the full force of the tsunami was battering the power plant's reactor units.

Aftermath of tsunami striking the Fukushima power plant (Image: TEPCO)

As the initial waters subsided, cars tipped upright, causing damage to buildings' walls and giving the first indication of the force of the wall of water that caused so much devastation and loss of life in the region.

Tsunami engulfs the power plant (Image: TEPCO)

The wave itself claimed the lives of two workers at the power station, and led to a chain of events that eventually saw the crisis categorised at the same severity level as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

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In pictures: Tsunami hits Fukushima nuclear power plant

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