A Japanese parliamentary panel has found that the incident at Fukushima nuclear plant has been a “man-made disaster” and not only due to the tsunami that hit the country last year.

“It is clear that this accident was a man-made disaster,” the panel said in a report released on Thursday.

It also criticized “governments, regulatory authorities and Tokyo Electric Power” for lacking “a sense of responsibility to protect people’s lives and society.”

Last year’s atomic incident at Fukushima “could and should have been foreseen and prevented” and its catastrophic effects “mitigated by a more effective human response,” the report said.

“Despite having a number of opportunities to take measures, regulatory agencies and TEPCO management deliberately postponed decisions, did not take action or took decisions that were convenient for themselves.”

On March 11, 2011, a 9-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that rocked the six-reactor nuclear plant and damaged it badly.

Cooling systems of the plant’s reactors were knocked out, leading to meltdowns and the release of radioactivity.

All of Japan’s nuclear reactors have been gradually taken offline for two months for maintenance or safety checks after the tsunami.