A magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck off Japan’s northeastern coast. There was a tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, which killed at least 230,000 people, but it did not affect Japan. [12][32][33] But most deaths occur on the coast closest to the epicenter. In comparison to the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, the East Japan earthquake brought serious damage to an extremely wide range. [51] The earthquake and tsunami also caused extensive and severe structural damage in north-eastern Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse. The surface energy of the seismic waves from the earthquake was calculated to be 1.9×1017 joules,[84] which is nearly double that of the 9.1 Mw 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed 230,000 people. Peak electricity consumption recorded by TEPCO during the period was 49.22GW, which is 10.77GW (18%) lower than the peak consumption in the previous year. This motion pushes the upper plate down until the accumulated stress causes a seismic slip-rupture event. The waves were expected to come ashore over a period of several hours, with the highest and most powerful expected at 0930 (1730 GMT), Geophysicist Gerard Fryer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu said high water reached Port Orford at 0730 (1530 … The damaged buildings included 29,500 structures in Miyagi Prefecture, 12,500 in Iwate Prefecture and 2,400 in Fukushima Prefecture. [5], The main earthquake was preceded by a number of large foreshocks, with hundreds of aftershocks reported. Of these, only nine reactors in five power plants were operating after having been restarted post-2011. [353] Internet services were largely unaffected in areas where basic infrastructure remained, despite the earthquake having damaged portions of several undersea cable systems landing in the affected regions; these systems were able to reroute around affected segments onto redundant links. He holds an M.A. Japan's monster quake: Do scientists have key to decode future tremblors? An expedition named Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project have been conducted in year 2012–2013 to drill oceanfloor boreholes through the fault-zone of the earthquake and gathered important data about the rupture mechanism and physical properties of the fault that caused the huge earthquake and tsunami which devastated much of northeast Japan.[399][400]. [38][39][40] This deviation led to a number of small planetary changes, including the length of a day, the tilt of the Earth, and the Chandler wobble. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. 0 0. [132][133] Just over an hour after the earthquake at 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observed flooding Sendai Airport, which is located near the coast of Miyagi Prefecture,[134][135] with waves sweeping away cars and planes and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland. Another cause of delayed evacuations was the release of the second update on the tsunami warning long after the earthquake (28 minutes, according to observations); by that time, power failures and similar circumstances reportedly prevented the update from reaching some residents. [58] The World Bank's estimated economic cost was US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in history. [278] The peak electricity consumption within TEP's area was 12.46GW during the 2011 summer, 3.11GW (20%) less than the peak consumption in the previous year, and the overall consumption have been reduced by 11% in July with 17% in August compared to previous year. The one contingency not envisioned in the Japan government’s disaster planning was the awesome size of the tsunami, and how this could affect the nation’s nuclear power plants. Robert Abuse. An international team of geologists has established the cause of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan's Tohoku region in March 2011 and killed over 15,000 people. Some of the first research to come from the archive was a 2014 paper from the Digital Methods Initiative in Amsterdam about patterns of Twitter usage around the time of the disaster. 2. It was the most powerful earthquake to hit … [338], A tsunami flooded Sendai Airport at 15:55 JST,[134] about 1 hour after the initial quake, causing severe damage. The backup cooling process is powered by emergency diesel generators at the plants and at Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant. The expressway did not reopen to general public use until 24 March 2011. Aftershocks continued, many exceeding magnitude-7.0. The Survey team had several GPS monitors located near the scene of the earthquake. Thousands of lives were lost and entire towns were devastated. Initially, the earthquake caused sinking of part of Honshu's Pacific coast by up to roughly a metre, but after about three years, the coast rose back and kept on rising to exceed its original height. [256][257], The Fujinuma irrigation dam in Sukagawa ruptured,[258] causing flooding and the washing away of five homes. [188] However, in Guam some roads were closed off and people were evacuated from low-lying areas. This is the fourth largest earthquake in the world and the largest in Japan since instrumental recordings began in 1900. [327][328] Tōhoku Electric Power Co. stated this may have been due to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents but was not from the Onagawa plant itself. 3. This is the fourth largest earthquake in the world and the largest in Japan since instrumental recordings began in 1900. ", Liquefaction driving away Chiba residents, Tokyo Disneyland's parking lot shows the risk of reclaimed land, "Japan Earthquake May Have Shifted Earth's Axis", "Magnitude 7.1 – NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN", "Fresh quake triggers tsunami warning in Japan", "Four dead as new tremor hits Japan disaster zone", "At least 6 killed in new Japan earthquake", "USGS 10-degree Map Centered at 35°N,140°E of earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or over", "Aftershocks Associated With Impaired Health Caused by the Great East Japan Disaster Among Youth Across Japan: A National Cross-Sectional Survey Interact J Med Res 2013;2(2):e31", "Alert sounded a minute before the tremor struck", 経験則からのずれ ―はじめの数秒と強震動：τc, Pd，スペクトル，簡易震源域推定方法―, "Earthquake Early Warning and Tsunami Warning of JMA for the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake", "Tsunami warnings issued for at least 20 countries after quake", "Distance between Dichato, Chile and Sendai, Japan is 17228km", "Chile Lifts Tsunami Alerts After Japan Quake Spawns Waves", "Chilean site: (Tsunami) waves penetrated 70–100 m in different parts of the country", "Tsunami Information (Estimated Tsunami arrival time and Height)", Helmholtz Research Centre for Geosciences, Japan's tsunami victims only had 15 minutes warning, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Japan tsunami: Toll could rise to more than 1,300, "News: Tsunami rolls through Pacific, Sendai Airport under water, Tokyo Narita closed, Pacific region airports endangered", "10-meter tsunami observed in area near Sendai in Miyagi Pref", "Japan 8.9-magnitude earthquake sparks massive tsunami", "Earthquake, tsunami wreak havoc in Japan", Tsunami hit more than 100 designated evacuation sites, "9,500 unaccounted for in Miyagi's Minamisanriku: local gov't", "東北地方太平洋沖地震を教訓とした地震・津波対策に関する専門調査会中間とりまとめ", U.S. rescue teams find devastation in northern city of Ofunato, "Whole towns gone-no cars or people seen", "Honderden doden in Japanse kuststad (Hundreds dead in Japanese coastal town)" (in Dutch), "Japan army says 300–400 bodies found in Rikuzentakata: Report", Miyagi coastal whaling port pulverized, little more than memory, 'Nothing can prepare you to witness this', Tsunami Slams Japan After Record Earthquake, Killing Hundreds, "Japan disaster: 30 powerful images of the earthquake and tsunami", Survivors on cut-off isle were ready for disaster, Tsunami Information NUMBER 64 (Tsunami Observation), "Tsunami Information NUMBER 64(Tsunami Observations)", "Executive Summary of Urgent Field Survey of Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters by the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku Earthquake", "Researchers: 30-meter tsunami in Ofunato", "38-meter-high tsunami triggered by 11 March quake: survey", Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, "東北地方太平洋沖地震による津波被害を踏まえた津波警報の改善の方向性について（最終とりまとめ）", "Evacuate all coastal areas immediately, Hawaii Civil Defense says", "Text of PTWC Pacific-wide tsunami warning", "Tsunami from Japanese quake prompts evacuation of 11,000 residents on Russia's Pacific islands", "Tsunami Warning and Advisory No. [264], In the immediate aftermath of the calamity, at least 1.5 million households were reported to have lost access to water supplies. Hundreds of aftershocks, dozens of magnitude 6.0 or greater and two of magnitude 7.0 or greater, followed in the days and weeks after the main quake. [285], An analyst estimates that consumption of various types of oil may increase by as much as 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) per day (as well as LNG), as back-up power plants burning fossil fuels try to compensate for the loss of 11 GW of Japan's nuclear power capacity. The 11 March 2011, magnitude 9.0 Honshu, Japan earthquake (38.322 N, 142.369 E, depth 32 km) generated a tsunami observed over the Pacific region and caused tremendous local devastation. [277], The expected electricity crisis in 2011 summer was successfully prevented thanks to all the setsuden measures. Because of conservation of angular momentum, such changes of inertia result in small changes to the Earth's rate of rotation. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Tōhoku region of Japan’s Honshu island on March 11, 2011. Rolling blackouts of approximately three hours were experienced throughout April and May while TEPCO scrambled to find a temporary power solution. [39] One early estimate suggested that the Pacific plate may have moved westward by up to 20 metres (66 ft),[90] and another early estimate put the amount of slippage at as much as 40 m (130 ft). [231][232], Japanese funerals are normally elaborate Buddhist ceremonies that entail cremation. Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, also called Great Sendai Earthquake or Great Tōhoku Earthquake, severe natural disaster that occurred in northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. [5][6] The earthquake was initially reported as 7.9 Mw by the USGS before it was quickly upgraded to 8.8 Mw, then to 8.9 Mw,[63] and then finally to 9.0 Mw. A ship washed ashore during the 2011 Japan tsunami lies amidst wreckage in Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan. [384], According to Jake Adelstein, most Japanese media accepted and parroted the misinformation put out by the Japanese government and TEPCO about the unfolding Fukushima nuclear crisis. [50], A report by the National Police Agency of Japan on 10 September 2018 listed 121,778 buildings as "total collapsed", with a further 280,926 buildings "half collapsed", and another 699,180 buildings "partially damaged". 1. Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant lost three of its four external power lines and temporarily lost cooling function in its spent fuel pools for "20 to 80 minutes". The earthquake occurred offshore, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) east of Sendai at 2:46 p.m. on March 11. A few cases of suicide are also included. The source area of this earthquake has a relatively high coupling coefficient surrounded by areas of relatively low coupling coefficients in the west, north, and south. The tsunami height that had been initially predicted by the tsunami warning system was lower than the actual tsunami height; this error contributed to the delayed escape of some residents. Also, observed data from tidal meters that were located off the coast were not fully reflected in the second warning. On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. local time, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake ruptured a 500-kilometer-long fault zone off the northeast coast of Japan. Kyodo News, "Survivors in trauma after life-changing nightmare day". [289][290] [112], As of 11 March 2016[update] there had been 869 aftershocks of 5.0 Mw or greater, 118 of 6.0 Mw or greater, and 9 over 7.0 Mw as reported by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900. Damaging tsunami waves struck the coasts of Iwate prefecture, just north of Miyagi prefecture, and Fukushima, Ibaraki, and Chiba, the prefectures extending along the Pacific coast south of Miyagi. Warnings were issued and evacuations were carr… [187] Some other South Pacific countries, including Tonga and New Zealand, and US territories American Samoa and Guam, experienced larger-than-normal waves, but did not report any major damage. [181] Surges of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) hit Vancouver Island in Canada[179][failed verification] prompting some evacuations, and causing boats to be banned from the waters surrounding the island for 12 hours following the wave strike, leaving many island residents in the area without means of getting to work. The report also stated that the quake had caused several major landslides on the seabed in the affected area. [306], Japan declared a state of emergency following the failure of the cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents. At this time Japan's Disaster Management Office (Naikakufu Bosai Keikaku) published a bi-lingual guide in Japanese and English, Disaster Management in Japan, to outline the several varieties of natural disaster and the preparations being made for the eventuality of each. The tsunami raced outward from the epicentre at speeds that approached about 500 miles (800 km) per hour. As part of his master's program,... Aerial view of damage to a portion of the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan, following the offshore earthquake and resultant tsunami there on March 11, 2011. Stone monuments at the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Shrines and Temples of Nikkō were toppled. Video footage of the towns that were worst affected shows little more than piles of rubble, with almost no parts of any structures left standing. As the floodwaters retreated back to the sea, they carried with them enormous quantities of debris, as well as thousands of victims caught in the deluge. 5 years ago. [160] A 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high tsunami hit Chiba Prefecture about 2½ hours after the quake, causing heavy damage to cities such as Asahi. [373] There was no damage to the Historic Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumi in Iwate Prefecture, and the recommendation for their inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List in June was seized upon as a symbol of international recognition and recovery. Large stretches of land were left submerged under seawater, particularly in lower-lying areas. [190] The surge in Chile was large enough to damage more than 200 houses,[191] with waves of up to 3 m (9.8 ft). Watts, Jonathan, "Quake survivors search for hope and shelter". However, the strong quake had exceeded the measurement limit of all of the teleseismometers within Japan, and thus it was impossible to calculate the moment magnitude based on data from those seismometers. Because of the unquestioning nature of most Japanese media to hold to the "party line", many Japanese mid-level officials and experts spoke to foreign media to get their opinions and observations publicized. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami has been assigned GLIDE identifier EQ-2011-000028-JPN by the Asian Disaster Reduction Center. The event began with a powerful earthquake off the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island, which caused widespread damage on land and initiated a series of large tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas of the country, most notably in the Tōhoku region (northeastern Honshu). At 2:46 pm (0546 GMT) of March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude underwater quake struck the Pacific seabed roughly 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of Japan's Miyagi prefecture. c. Nuclear Meltdown in 2011 Earthquake in Japan. Two days of seismic activity made available by the IRIS Consortium were compressed into two minutes of sound. "[61], The 9.1-magnitude (Mw) undersea megathrust earthquake occurred on 11 March 2011 at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) in the north-western Pacific Ocean at a relatively shallow depth of 32 km (20 mi),[5][62] with its epicenter approximately 72 km (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku, Japan, lasting approximately six minutes. JAPAN TSUNAMI: HOW IT HAPPENED On July 16th at 12:00am, July 15th at 11:00pm BKK/JKT ; National Geographic Channel; HOME; ABOUT; VIDEOS; PHOTOS; LOCATION; INTERACT. At 2:46 pm (0546 GMT) of March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude underwater quake struck the Pacific seabed roughly 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of Japan's Miyagi prefecture. [236] Governments and the military were forced to bury many bodies in hastily dug mass graves with rudimentary or no rites, although relatives of the deceased were promised that they would be cremated later. [143], Among the factors in the high death toll was the unexpectedly large water surge. For example, power plants were protected by seawalls 25 feet high. [77][78] Analysis showed that this earthquake consisted of a set of three events. Japan Tsunami: How It Happened on … [267] Several nuclear and conventional power plants went offline after the earthquake, reducing the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) total capacity by 21 GW. A wave measuring some 33 feet high inundated the coast and flooded parts of the city of Sendai, including its airport and the surrounding countryside. In the fall of 2016 Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED; Japanese abbreviation, Bosai Kaken; full name Bousai Kagaku Gijutsu Kenkyusho) launched the online interactive "Disaster Chronology Map for Japan, 416–2013" (map labels in Japanese) to display in visual form the location, disaster time, and date across the islands. If harnessed, the seismic energy from this earthquake would power a city the size of Los Angeles for an entire year. Director Hideaki Anno's 2016 film Shin Godzilla portrays the titular kaiju as a representation of disasters such as the Tōhoku earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and criticizes the Japanese government's response to such disasters. It was the fifth most powerful earthquake ever recorded, and within 30 minutes, a 133-foot high tsunami pummeled Japan's northeastern shoreline. [321] As late as July 2013 slightly elevated levels of radioactivity were found in beef on sale at Tokyo markets. When it hit, it created waves more than 10 metres high. Friday’s biggest quake occurred 80 miles offshore and 15.2 miles underwater in a subduction zone called the Japan Trench, part of that plate boundary. [272] By 21 March 2011, the number of households in the north without electricity fell to 242,927. [101], The first sign international researchers had that the earthquake caused such a dramatic change in the Earth's rotation came from the United States Geological Survey which monitors Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) stations across the world. [257] The Tōkaidō Shinkansen resumed limited service late in the day and was back to its normal schedule by the next day, while the Jōetsu and Nagano Shinkansen resumed services late on 12 March. Part 2: From Religious Mobilization to "Spiritual Care. [167][168] At Tarō, Iwate, the tsunami reached a height of 37.9 metres (124 ft) up the slope of a mountain some 200 metres (660 ft) away from the coastline. [247] Three hundred hospitals with 20 beds or more in Tōhoku were damaged by the disaster, with 11 being completely destroyed. [36], The earthquake moved Honshu (the main island of Japan) 2.4 m (8 ft) east, shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 cm (4 in) and 25 cm (10 in),[38][39][40] increased earth's rotational speed by 1.8 µs per day,[41] and generated infrasound waves detected in perturbations of the low-orbiting Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer satellite. [170] It was also estimated that the tsunami reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture. MORE. Relevance. When it hit, it created waves more than 10 metres high. [75] The hypocentral region of this earthquake extended from offshore Iwate Prefecture to offshore Ibaraki Prefecture. Updates? [304], In 2013, only two nuclear reactors in Japan had been restarted since the 2011 shutdowns. Be sure to include lots of info. [55] By summer the Vice-minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and the head of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy had all lost their jobs. On March 11, the very large size of the earthquake was recognized quickly (from the seismic data) and the Japanese Meteorological Agency fortunately took no chances and put out a tsunami warning three … 8 years ago. [292][293], The city-owned plant for importing liquefied natural gas in Sendai was severely damaged, and supplies were halted for at least a month. The bulletin also included initial tsunami observation details, as well as more detailed maps for the coastlines affected by the tsunami waves. The Japan Digital Archive is presented in English and Japanese and is hosted at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [130] The tsunami inundated a total area of approximately 561 square kilometres (217 sq mi) in Japan. Of those who attempted to evacuate after hearing the warning, only five percent were caught in the tsunami. A spill of "up to 3.8 litres" of radioactive water also occurred at Onagawa following the aftershock. [311] Later, a state of emergency was also declared at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant about 11 km (6.8 mi) south. [55][56] Many electrical generators ran out of fuel. [92] A report by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, published in Science on 2 December 2011, concluded that the seabed in the area between the epicenter and the Japan Trench moved 50 metres (160 ft) east-southeast and rose about 7 metres (23 ft) as a result of the quake. Narita and Haneda Airport both briefly suspended operations after the quake, but suffered little damage and reopened within 24 hours. Also, a tsunami-earthquake with a tsunami magnitude scales (Mt) between 8.6 and 9.0 (Similar to the 1896 Sanriku earthquake, the Mt for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake was 9.1–9.4) had a 30% chance to occur within 30 years. Friday’s biggest quake occurred 80 miles offshore and 15.2 miles underwater in a subduction zone called the Japan Trench, part of that plate boundary. [186] It was reported that a 1.5 m-high (4.9 ft) wave completely submerged Midway Atoll's reef inlets and Spit Island, killing more than 110,000 nesting seabirds at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Japan specifically requested assistance from teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United States. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that may have reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture,[34][35] and which, in the Sendai area, traveled at 700 km/h (435 mph)[36] and up to 10 km (6 mi) inland. 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