One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded has sent a tsunami crashing into a Russian port and smaller waves barreling across the Pacific to the Americas and south to New Zealand.

Memories are more recent – and much more raw – in Japan, where the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake struck with a force of 9.0 off the northeast coast, triggering a tsunami that caused widespread destruction and a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, killing more than 20,000 people.