The tsunami was one of the main reasons the
earthquake was so devastating, as it destroyed
and carried away everything it hit. Another reason was widespread, prolonged power outages.
On March 11, 2011, the day of the earthquake,
8.5 million households lost electricity, 1.5 million
were still powerless on March 13, and 0.3 million
had no power supply even a week after the earthquake. Due to the lack of power, communication
service outages were widespread. For example,
4900 mobile base stations were disabled after the
earthquake. Of those, about 4500 were down
due to a lack of power. Each base station had its
own backup power supply, but it was not enough
to maintain service until the power supply recovered.