Japan’s nuclear authorities underestimated the possibility of a massive tsunami hitting the Daiichi power plant, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team said on Wednesday, while praising the overall response to the March 11 disaster as “exemplary”.

However, it added that the tsunami hazard for several nuclear sites was underestimated and called for greater preparation.

Japan’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which has since leaked radiation into the air, ground and sea.

The Fukushima accident has forced more than 80,000 residents from their homes and raised deepening concerns about the safety of nearby children, workers battling to stabilize the reactors and the food supply.

The IAEA sent an 18-member team of its own experts and specialists from 12 countries, including the United States, China, Russia and South Korea, on a fact-finding mission to Japan. The experts were in Japan for one week.

The full report is to be submitted at an IAEA conference in Vienna from June 20 to 24.

Ziphora Robina/afp/ap/reuters