More than 80 of its supporters are reckoned to have been killed, 10,000 of them injured, twice as many homes destroyed, and more than 200,000 people displaced.
Located on the shore of Sullivan's Island off the coast of South Carolina, the award-winning-cube-shaped beach house was built to replace one smashed to pieces by Hurricane Hugo 10 years ago.
"She must be down here." Since the day after the tsunami destroyed her aunt's house in Rikuzentakata, Taiko Sasaki, 62, has been back every day to pick through the ruins.
If some reefs are destroyed by storms, starfish populations that inhabited those reefs would have to condense and concentrate on the reefs that are left.
It has claimed since 1981 that US fruit was infested with Mediterranean fruit flies and could devastate China’s own production, which is the world’s largest.
"I have been a professional clown for 34 years now but this is ruining my business," Fudgie the clown, a professional children's entertainer from New Jersey, USA, told the BBC.