In March 2011, one of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in Japan shook the country's northeastern coast. It flattened thousands of homes and buildings, destroyed infrastructure, and triggered a tsunami that wiped out whole communities. As the death toll rose above 20,000 with many more people injured and homeless, scientists and policymakers around the globe asked: How can society use technology to better prepare for, and respond to, natural disasters? How can we work faster to save lives? Leading this new thinking are researcher Yanbing Bai and a team at Tohoku University's International Research Institute of Disaster Science based in the region hardest hit by the quake.