 The ship is getting closer and closer to the ground. The tsunami is very close to us. It's about 3.21 pm. It's close to us. On March 11, 2011, Japan is struck by a massive earthquake. The quake triggers a devastating tsunami. Powerful waves destroy everything in their path. Over 15,000 lives are lost. 6,000 people are injured. At the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the earthquake and tsunami cut off electricity supplies. Cooling systems fail. The reactors overheat. The nuclear fuel melts. Hydrogen is released. Explosions follow. Radioactive materials are released into the atmosphere and sea. More than 100,000 people are evacuated. It is the worst accident at a nuclear power plant since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. On the other side of the world, in Vienna, Austria, the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre is immediately activated in full response mode. Over the next two months, 230 staff at the centre work around the clock. Pressure on that. The team of experts monitor the rapidly changing situation. They collect and analyse huge amounts of data and share it with the world. And then we will ask them next as well. They coordinate and provide international assistance to Japan and supply information to the public. Shortly after the accident, the agency sent a team of international experts to Fukushima Daiichi. Together with plant operators, they viewed the damaged facility. And began to identify lessons from the accident that could help improve global nuclear safety. IAEA Director-General Yukia Amano experienced first-hand the impact of the disaster when he visited the stricken plant. Staff at the plant gave him eye-witness accounts of the disaster. The IAEA has experienced a lot of accidents in terms of self-sufficiency. He pledged the full assistance of the IAEA to Japan. In the past five years, the IAEA has sent over 10 expert missions to Japan. After the stabilisation of the damaged reactors, work on decommissioning began. This is expected to take decades to complete. The IAEA has been advising Japan on the safety and technological aspects of decommissioning and on the safe management of radioactive waste. Cooperation in the monitoring of radioactivity in seawater is also ongoing. The accident led to the release of radioactive elements into coastal waters near the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Japan continually measures radioactivity levels and publishes the results. To support the gathering and analysis of such data, IAEA marine experts conduct missions with Japanese counterparts. Water samples are analysed independently and the results compared. Since May 2013, the IAEA has been holding workshops for Japanese and international radiation monitoring experts in the areas surrounding the plant. It's a really good area to be doing your backpack walking. Those people doing mobile monitoring try to map as much of the area as possible. These field exercises help to better prepare participants for responding to a nuclear or radiological emergency in their own countries or in other countries where they may be asked to provide international assistance. The training activities are coordinated by an IAEA-RANET capacity building centre, which was designated in 2013. Two years later, the centre moved into its new location at the Fukushima Prefectural Centre for Environmental Creation. The emergency response equipment, which is used in the workshops and training, is stored here. These devices could be deployed to a country in the Asia-Pacific region if assistance in an emergency is requested. Since 2013, the IAEA has been supporting the work of the Fukushima Prefecture in the fields of radiation monitoring and decontamination in public places. IAEA experts assist with the analysis of the results of these activities. And advise on how to protect people from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation. Advice is also provided on the safe and temporary storage of the radioactive waste collected from contaminated areas. And the IAEA is assisting the Fukushima Municipal Authorities on a research project that involves the incineration of such waste to reduce and manage the overall volume. Among other safety measures, it's important that the incineration process doesn't spread radiation into the atmosphere. The lasting legacy of the Fukushima Daiichi accident will be a much more intense focus on nuclear safety and on the improved protection of nuclear facilities against natural hazards. Just three months after the accident, the IAEA hosted a ministerial conference on nuclear safety. This paved the way for the unanimous endorsement of the Nuclear Safety Action Plan by IAEA member states. As a result, safety measures were enhanced at plants throughout the world. At the IAEA's 2015 General Conference, the Director-General presented his extensive report on the causes and consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi accident. It aims to provide an understanding of what happened and why. It's been five years since the nuclear emergency. The road to recovery has been difficult and long, and the journey continues. As Japan proceeds to recover from the accident, it can count on the continued support of the IAEA.