2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami - Wikipedia

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami - Wikipedia
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Coordinates
38°19′19″N
142°22′08″E
 / 
38.322°N 142.369°E
 /
38.322; 142.369
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Megathrust earthquake off Japan's east coast
"2011 Miyagi earthquake" and "3.11" redirect here. For the aftershock that occurred on 7 April, see
April 2011 Miyagi earthquake
. For other uses, see
3/11 (disambiguation)
2011 Tōhoku
earthquake and tsunami
東北地方太平洋沖地震
東日本大震災
A helicopter flies over the port of
Sendai
to deliver food to survivors
Tokyo
Sendai
UTC
time
2011-03-11 05:46:24
ISC
event
16461282
USGS-
ANSS
ComCat
Local date
11 March 2011
; 15 years ago
2011-03-11
Local time
14:46:24
JST
Duration
6 minutes
Magnitude
9.0–9.1
Depth
29 km (18 mi)
Epicenter
38°19′19″N
142°22′08″E
 / 
38.322°N 142.369°E
 /
38.322; 142.369
Fault
Convergent boundary
between
Pacific plate
and
Okhotsk microplate
Type
Megathrust
Areas affected
Japan (shaking, tsunami)
Pacific Rim
(tsunami)
Total damage
US$360 billion
(equivalent to $515.2 billion in 2025)
Max.
intensity
JMA 7
MMI IX
Peak acceleration
2.99
Peak velocity
117.41
cm/s
Tsunami
Up to 40.5 m (133 ft) in
Miyako
Iwate
Tōhoku
Landslides
Yes
Foreshocks
List of foreshocks and aftershocks of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake
Aftershocks
13,386 (as of 6 March 2018
[update]
Casualties
19,759 deaths,
6,242 injured,
2,553 missing
Citations
10
11
12
13
On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24
JST
(05:46:24
UTC
), a
9.0–9.1
undersea
megathrust earthquake
occurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of the
Oshika Peninsula
of the
Tōhoku region
of Japan. It lasted approximately six minutes and caused a
tsunami
. It is sometimes known in Japan as the "
Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster
東日本大震災
Higashi Nihon Daishinsai
, among other names.
en 1
It is often referred to by its numerical date,
3.11
(read
San ten Ichi-ichi
in Japanese).
30
31
32
The earthquake was the
most powerful ever recorded in Japan
, and the
fourth most powerful recorded in the world
since modern
seismography
began in 1900.
33
34
35
It triggered powerful tsunami waves that may have reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) in
Miyako
in Tōhoku's
Iwate Prefecture
36
37
and which, in the
Sendai
area, traveled at 700 km/h (435 mph)
38
and up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.
39
Residents of Sendai had only eight to ten minutes of warning, and more than a hundred evacuation sites were washed away.
38
The snowfall which accompanied the tsunami
40
and the freezing temperature hindered rescue works;
41
for instance, in
Ishinomaki
, the city with the most deaths,
42
the temperature was 0 °C (32 °F) as the tsunami hit.
43
Official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,
44
6,242 injured,
45
284 firefighters dead from attempts to close preventative fire gates,
46
and 2,553 missing.
47
A report in 2015 found that 228,863 people were still living away from their home either temporarily or permanently.
48
The tsunami caused the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
, primarily the
meltdowns
of three of its reactors, the
discharge of radioactive water in Fukushima
and the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents.
49
50
Many electrical generators ran out of fuel. The loss of electrical power halted cooling systems, causing heat to build. Without ventilation,
hydrogen
gas accumulated within the upper refueling hall and exploded, forcefully ejecting the refueling hall's blast panels. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of the
Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant
were evacuated.
Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion.
51
The
Bank of Japan
offered
15 trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March 2011 in an effort to normalize market conditions.
52
The estimated economic damage amounted to over $300 billion, making it the
costliest natural disaster in history
53
54
According to a 2020 study, "the earthquake and its aftermaths resulted in a 0.47 percentage point decline in Japan's real GDP growth in the year following the disaster".
55
Earthquake
seismogram
recorded in
Massachusetts
, United States
The
magnitude
9.1 (
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),
56
with its
epicenter
approximately 72 km (45 mi) east of the
Oshika Peninsula
of
Tōhoku
, Japan, lasting approximately six minutes.
The earthquake was initially reported as 7.9 M
by the
USGS
before it was quickly upgraded to 8.8 M
, then to 8.9 M
57
and then finally to 9.0 M
58
59
On 11 July 2016, the USGS further upgraded the earthquake to 9.1.
Sendai
was the nearest major city to the earthquake, 130 km (81 mi) from the epicenter; the earthquake occurred 373 km (232 mi) northeast of
Tokyo
The main earthquake was preceded by a number of large
foreshocks
, with hundreds of
aftershocks
reported. One of the first major foreshocks was a 7.2 M
event on 9 March, approximately 40 km (25 mi) from the epicenter of the 11 March earthquake, with another three on the same day in excess of 6.0 M
60
Following the main earthquake on 11 March, a 7.4 M
aftershock was reported at 15:08 JST (6:06 UTC), succeeded by a 7.9 M
at 15:15 JST (6:16 UTC) and a 7.7 M
at 15:26 JST (6:26 UTC).
61
Over 800 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 M
or greater occurred after the initial quake.
62
Aftershocks followed
Omori's law
, which states that the rate of aftershocks declines with the reciprocal of the time since the main quake. The aftershocks thus tapered off over time, but continued for years after the initial quake,
63
including one on 26 October 2013 (local time) of magnitude 7.1 M
64
A visual depiction of the
type of faulting
that caused the main tremor, low-angle
thrusting
on a west-dipping
fault plane
The earthquake moved
Honshu
2.4 meters (7 ft 10 in) east, shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in),
65
66
67
increased Earth's rotational speed by 1.8
μs
per day,
68
and generated
infrasound
waves detected in perturbations of the low-orbiting
Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer
satellite.
69
Initially, the earthquake caused part of Honshu's Pacific coast to sink by roughly a meter, but after about three years, the coast rose back and then kept on rising to exceed its original height.
70
71
72
73
Geology
Mechanism of 2011 Tōhoku earthquake
This megathrust earthquake was a recurrence of the mechanism of the earlier
869 Sanriku earthquake
, which has been estimated as having a magnitude of at least 8.4 M
, which also created a large tsunami that inundated the Sendai plain.
38
74
75
Three tsunami deposits have been identified within the
Holocene
sequence of the plain, all formed within the last 3,000 years, suggesting an 800 to 1,100 year recurrence interval for large tsunamigenic earthquakes. In 2001 it was reckoned that there was a high likelihood of a large tsunami hitting the Sendai plain as more than 1,100 years had then elapsed.
76
In 2007, the probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of M
8.1–8.3 was estimated as 99% within the following 30 years.
77
This earthquake occurred where the
Pacific plate
is
subducting
under the plate beneath northern Honshu.
66
56
The Pacific plate, which moves at a rate of 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) per year, dips under Honshu's underlying plate, building large amounts of
elastic energy
. This motion pushes the upper plate down until the accumulated stress causes a seismic slip-rupture event. The break caused the sea floor to rise by several meters.
56
The magnitude of this earthquake was a surprise to some seismologists.
78
A quake of this magnitude usually has a rupture length of at least 500 km (310 mi) and generally requires a long, relatively straight fault surface. Because the plate boundary and
subduction
zone in the area of the Honshu rupture is not very straight, it is unusual for the magnitude of its earthquake to exceed 8.5 M
w.
78
The
hypocentral region
of this earthquake extended from offshore
Iwate Prefecture
to offshore
Ibaraki Prefecture
79
The
Japan Meteorological Agency
said that the earthquake may have ruptured the fault zone from Iwate to Ibaraki with a length of 500 km (310 mi) and a width of 200 km (120 mi).
80
81
Analysis showed that this earthquake consisted of a set of three events.
82
Other major earthquakes with tsunamis struck the
Sanriku Coast
region
in 1896
and
in 1933
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. From the averaged coupling coefficient of 0.5–0.8 in the source area and the seismic moment, it was estimated that the slip deficit of this earthquake was accumulated over a period of 260–880 years, which is consistent with the recurrence interval of such great earthquakes estimated from the tsunami deposit data. The seismic moment of this earthquake accounts for about 93% of the estimated cumulative moment from 1926 to March 2011. Hence, earthquakes in this area with magnitudes of about 7 since 1926 had only released part of the accumulated energy. In the area near the trench, the coupling coefficient is high, which could act as the source of the large tsunami.
83
Most of the foreshocks are interplate earthquakes with thrust-type focal mechanisms. Both interplate and intraplate earthquakes appeared in the aftershocks offshore Sanriku coast with considerable proportions.
84
Energy
The
surface energy
of the seismic waves from the earthquake was calculated to be
1.9×10
17
joules
85
which is nearly double that of the 9.1 M
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
that killed 230,000 people. If harnessed, the seismic energy from this earthquake would power a city the size of Los Angeles for an entire year.
63
The
seismic moment
(M
), which represents a physical size for the event, was calculated by the USGS at 3.9×10
22
joules,
86
slightly less than the 2004 Indian Ocean quake.
Ground motion
Seismic intensity
observations resulting from mainshock
The strong ground motion registered at the maximum of
Shindo
7 on the
Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale
in
Kurihara
Miyagi Prefecture
87
Three other prefectures—
Fukushima
Ibaraki
and
Tochigi
—recorded a 6 upper on the JMA scale. Seismic stations in
Iwate
Gunma
Saitama
and
Chiba Prefectures
measured a 6 lower, while
Tokyo
and five other prefectures recorded 5 upper.
Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) calculated a
peak ground acceleration
of 2.99
(29.33 m/s
).
88
en 2
A USGS seismic installation at Kurihara recorded 2.751
in ground acceleration (pga) and 98.21 cm/s (38.67 in/s) in ground velocity (pgv); the station data corresponded to a
Modified Mercalli intensity
(MMI) of IX (
Violent
), which was also recorded at five other installations at
Ōsaki
Onagawa
and
Iwanuma
, Miyagi,
Haga, Tochigi
, and the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
; tremors exceeding MMI VI (
Strong
) or higher were felt in the
Greater Tokyo Area
, with a seismic station in
Kōtō
recording a pga of 0.2552
and a pgv of 43.96 cm/s (17.31 in/s), corresponding to MMI VIII (
Severe
) shaking.
Tremors from the earthquake were also felt in the
Northern Mariana Islands
, the
Korean Peninsula
Taiwan
Northeast China
and the
Russian Far East
Intensity
Prefecture
91
JMA 7
Miyagi
JMA 6+
Fukushima
Ibaraki
Tochigi
JMA 6−
Iwate
Gunma
Saitama
Chiba
JMA 5+
Aomori
Akita
Yamagata
Tokyo
Kanagawa
Yamanashi
JMA 5−
Niigata
Nagano
Shizuoka
JMA 4
Hokkaido
Gifu
Aichi
JMA 3
Toyama
Ishikawa
Fukui
Mie
Shiga
Kyoto
Osaka
Hyōgo
Nara
JMA 2
Wakayama
Tottori
Shimane
Okayama
Tokushima
Kochi
Saga
Kumamoto
JMA 1
Hiroshima
Kagawa
Ehime
Yamaguchi
Fukuoka
Nagasaki
Oita
Kagoshima
Intensity
Prefecture
Location(s)
91
JMA 7
Miyagi
Kurihara
JMA 6+
Miyagi
Wakuya
Tome
Misato
Osaki
Natori
Zao
Kawasaki
Yamamoto
Sendai
Miyagino
),
Ishinomaki
Shiogama
Higashimatsushima
Ohira
Fukushima
Shirakawa
Sukagawa
Kunimi
Kagamiishi
Ten-ei
Naraha
Tomioka
Okuma
Futaba
Namie
Shinchi
Ibaraki
Hokota
Hitachi
Takahagi
Omitama
Naka
Kasama
Chikusei
Hitachiomiya
Tochigi
Otawara
Utsunomiya
Mooka
Ichikai
Takanezawa
JMA 6−
Iwate
Ofunato
Rikuzentakata
Kamaishi
Takizawa
Yahaba
Hanamaki
Ichinoseki
Ōshū
Miyagi
Kesennuma
Minamisanriku
Shiroishi
Kakuda
Iwanuma
Ogawara
Watari
, Sendai (
Aoba
Wakabayashi
Izumi
),
Matsushima
Rifu
Taiwa
Ōsato
Tomiya
Fukushima
Fukushima
Koriyama
Nihonmatsu
Koori
Kawamata
Nishigō
Nakajima
Yabuki
Tanagura
Tamakawa
Asakawa
Ono
Tamura
Date
Motomiya
Iwaki
Soma
Hirono
Kawauchi
Iitate
Minamisoma
Ibaraki
Mito
Kitaibaraki
Hitachinaka
Ibaraki
Tokai
Hitachiota
Tsuchiura
Ishioka
Toride
Tsukuba
Kashima
Itako
Miho
Bando
Inashiki
Kasumigaura
Namegata
Sakuragawa
Joso
Tsukubamirai
Shirosato
Tochigi
Nasu
Nasushiobara
Haga
Nasukarasuyama
Nakagawa
Gunma
Kiryu
Saitama
Miyashiro
Chiba
Narita
Inzai
Geophysical effects
Hypocentral region boundaries (source: the Japanese
Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion
Portions of northeastern Japan shifted by as much as 2.4 meters (7 ft 10 in) closer to North America,
65
66
making some sections of Japan's landmass wider than before.
66
Those areas of Japan closest to the epicenter experienced the largest shifts.
66
A 400-kilometer (250 mi) stretch of coastline dropped vertically by 0.6 meters (2 ft 0 in), allowing the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land.
66
One early estimate suggested that the Pacific plate may have moved westward by up to 20 meters (66 ft),
92
and another early estimate put the amount of slippage at as much as 40 m (130 ft).
93
On 6 April, the Japanese coast guard said that the quake shifted the seabed near the epicenter 24 meters (79 ft) and elevated the seabed off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture by 3 meters (9.8 ft).
94
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 meters (160 ft) east-southeast and rose about 7 meters (23 ft) as a result of the quake. The report also stated that the quake had caused several major landslides on the seabed in the affected area.
95
The Earth's
axis
shifted by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in).
65
66
67
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
67
The speed of the Earth's rotation increased, shortening the day by 1.8
microseconds
due to the redistribution of Earth's mass.
96
The axial shift was caused by the redistribution of mass on the Earth's surface, which changed the planet's
moment of inertia
. Because of
conservation of angular momentum
, such changes of
inertia
result in small changes to the Earth's rate of rotation.
97
These are expected changes
67
for an earthquake of this magnitude.
65
96
The earthquake also generated infrasound waves detected by perturbations in the orbit of the
GOCE
satellite, which thus
serendipitously
became the first seismograph in orbit.
69
Following the earthquake, cracks were observed to have formed in the roof of
Mount Fuji
's
magma chamber
98
Seiches
observed in
Sognefjorden
, Norway, were attributed to distant
S waves
and
Love waves
generated by the earthquake. These seiches began to occur roughly half an hour after the main shock hit Japan, and continued to occur for 3 hours, during which waves of up to 1.5 meters high were observed.
99
Soil liquefaction
was evident in areas of
reclaimed land
around Tokyo, particularly in
Urayasu
100
101
Chiba City
Funabashi
Narashino
(all in
Chiba Prefecture
) and in the
Koto
Edogawa
Minato
Chūō
, and
Ōta
wards of Tokyo. Approximately 30 homes or buildings were destroyed and 1,046 other buildings were damaged to varying degrees.
102
Nearby
Haneda Airport
, built mostly on reclaimed land, was not damaged.
Odaiba
also experienced liquefaction, but damage was minimal.
103
Soil liquefaction
in
Kōtō
, Tokyo
Shinmoedake
, a volcano in
Kyushu
, erupted three days after the earthquake. The volcano had previously erupted in January 2011; it is not known if the later eruption was linked to the earthquake.
104
In
Antarctica
, the seismic waves from the earthquake were reported to have caused the
Whillans Ice Stream
to slip by about 0.5 meters (1 ft 8 in).
105
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. The Survey team had several GPS monitors located near the scene of the earthquake. The GPS station located nearest the epicenter moved almost 4 m (13 ft). This motivated government researchers to look into other ways the earthquake may have had large scale effects on the planet. Calculations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory determined that the Earth's rotation was changed by the earthquake to the point where the days are now 1.8
microseconds
shorter.
106
Aftershocks
Further information:
List of foreshocks and aftershocks of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake
Tōhoku earthquake and aftershocks from 11 to 14 March
Satellite image shows snowfall on agricultural fields in Sendai area. See
§ Weather conditions
paragraph for details.
Japan experienced over 1,000 aftershocks since the earthquake, with 80 registering over magnitude 6.0 M
and several of which have been over magnitude 7.0 M
A magnitude 7.4 M
at 15:08 (JST), 7.9 M
at 15:15 and a 7.7 M
quake at 15:26 all occurred on 11 March.
107
A month later, a
major aftershock
struck offshore on 7 April with a magnitude of 7.1 M
. Its epicenter was underwater, 66 km (41 mi) off the coast of Sendai. The
Japan Meteorological Agency
assigned a magnitude of 7.4 M
JMA
, while the
United States Geological Survey
lowered it to 7.1 M
108
At least four people were killed, and electricity was cut off across much of northern Japan including the loss of external power to
Higashidōri Nuclear Power Plant
and
Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant
109
110
111
Four days later on 11 April, another
magnitude 7.1 M
aftershock
struck Fukushima, causing additional damage and killing a total of three people.
112
113
On 7 December 2012 a
large aftershock of magnitude 7.3 M
caused a minor tsunami, and again on 26 October 2013 a small tsunami was recorded after a 7.1 M
aftershock.
114
As of 16 March 2012 aftershocks continued, totaling 1887 events over magnitude 4.0; a regularly updated map showing all shocks of magnitude 4.5 and above near or off the east coast of Honshu in the last seven days
115
showed over 20 events.
116
As of 11 March 2016
[update]
there had been 869 aftershocks of 5.0 M
or greater, 118 of 6.0 M
or greater, and 9 over 7.0 M
as reported by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
117
The number of aftershocks was associated with decreased health across Japan.
118
On 13 February 2021, a
magnitude 7.1–7.3 earthquake
struck off the coast of Sendai. It caused some damage in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. One person was killed, and 185 were injured.
119
120
Land subsidence
Land subsidence
and
soil liquefaction
at
Shin-Urayasu Station
in
Urayasu, Chiba
, near
Tokyo
The
Geospatial Information Authority of Japan
reported land
subsidence
based on the height of
triangulation stations
in the area measured by
GPS
as compared to their previous values from 14 April 2011.
121
Miyako, Iwate
– 0.50 meters (1 ft 8 in)
Yamada, Iwate
– 0.53 meters (1 ft 9 in)
Ōtsuchi, Iwate
– 0.35 meters (1 ft 2 in)
122
Kamaishi, Iwate
– 0.66 meters (2 ft 2 in)
Ōfunato, Iwate
– 0.73 meters (2 ft 5 in)
Rikuzentakata, Iwate
– 0.84 meters (2 ft 9 in)
Kesennuma, Miyagi
– 0.74 meters (2 ft 5 in)
Minamisanriku, Miyagi
– 0.69 meters (2 ft 3 in)
Oshika Peninsula
Miyagi
– 1.2 meters (3 ft 11 in)
122
Ishinomaki, Miyagi
– 0.78 meters (2 ft 7 in)
Higashimatsushima, Miyagi
– 0.43 meters (1 ft 5 in)
Iwanuma, Miyagi
– 0.47 meters (1 ft 7 in)
Sōma, Fukushima
– 0.29 meters (11 in)
Scientists say that the subsidence is permanent. As a result, the communities in question are now more susceptible to flooding during high tides.
123
Earthquake early warning system
One minute before the earthquake was felt in Tokyo, the
Earthquake Early Warning
system, which includes more than 1,000
seismometers
in Japan, sent out warnings of impending strong shaking to millions. It is believed that the early warning by the
Japan Meteorological Agency
(JMA) saved many lives.
124
125
The warning for the general public was delivered about eight seconds after the first
P wave
was detected, or about 31 seconds after the earthquake occurred. However, the estimated intensities were smaller than the actual ones in some places, especially in Kanto,
Koshinetsu
, and Northern Tōhoku regions where the populace warning did not trigger. According to the
Japan Meteorological Agency
, reasons for the underestimation include a saturated magnitude scale when using maximum amplitude as input, failure to fully take into account the area of the
hypocenter
, and the initial amplitude of the earthquake being less than that which would be predicted by an empirical relationship.
126
127
128
129
There were also cases where large differences between estimated intensities by the Earthquake Early Warning system and the actual intensities occurred in the aftershocks and triggered earthquakes. Such discrepancies in the warning were attributed by the JMA to the system's inability to distinguish between two different earthquakes that happened at around same time, as well as to the reduced number of reporting seismometers due to power outages and connection failures.
130
The system's software was subsequently modified to handle this kind of situation.
131
Tsunami
NOAA
tsunami energy map
An upthrust of 6 to 8 meters (20 to 26 ft) along a 180-kilometer (110 mi)-wide seabed at 60 kilometers (37 mi) offshore from the east coast of Tōhoku
132
resulted in a major
tsunami
that brought destruction along the
Pacific
coastline of Japan's northern islands. Thousands of people died and entire towns were devastated. The tsunami propagated throughout the Pacific Ocean region reaching the entire Pacific coast of North and South America from
Alaska
to
Chile
. Warnings were issued and evacuations were carried out in many countries bordering the Pacific. Although the tsunami affected many of these places, the heights of the waves were minor.
133
134
135
Chile's Pacific coast, one of the farthest from Japan at about 17,000 kilometers (11,000 mi) away, was struck by waves 2 meters (6.6 ft) high,
136
137
138
compared with an estimated wave height of 38.9 meters (128 ft) at Omoe peninsula, Miyako city, Japan.
37
Japan
The
tsunami warning
issued by the
Japan Meteorological Agency
was the most serious on its warning scale; it was rated as a "major tsunami", being at least 3 meters (9.8 ft) high.
139
The actual height prediction varied, the greatest being for Miyagi at 6 meters (20 ft) high.
140
The tsunami inundated a total area of approximately 561 square kilometers (217 sq mi) in Japan.
141
Water column height on 11 March 2011 at
DART
Station, 690 NM southeast of Tokyo
The earthquake took place at 14:46 JST (UTC 05:46) around 67 kilometers (42 mi) from the nearest point on Japan's coastline, and initial estimates indicated the tsunami would have taken 10 to 30 minutes to reach the areas first affected, and then areas farther north and south based on the geography of the coastline.
142
143
At 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observed flooding
Sendai Airport
, which is located near the coast of
Miyagi Prefecture
144
145
with waves sweeping away cars and planes and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland.
146
147
The impact of the tsunami in and around Sendai Airport was filmed by an
NHK
News helicopter, showing a number of vehicles on local roads trying to escape the approaching wave and being engulfed by it.
148
A 4-meter-high (13 ft) tsunami hit
Iwate Prefecture
citation needed
Wakabayashi Ward
in Sendai was also particularly hard hit.
149
At least 101 designated tsunami evacuation sites were hit by the wave.
38
150
The city of
Rikuzentakata
Iwate Prefecture
, suffered extensive damage from the tsunami, with almost the entirety of the lower area of the city being destroyed.
Like the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
, the damage by surging water, though much more localized, was far more deadly and destructive than the actual quake. Entire towns were destroyed in tsunami-hit areas in Japan, including 9,500 missing in
Minamisanriku
151
one thousand bodies had been recovered in the town by 14 March 2011.
152
While the tsunami was able to surmount
sea walls
and
floodgates
in many areas along the coastline of the Tohoku region,
Fudai, Iwate
, was spared destruction due to its 15.5-meter (51 ft) floodgate, which successfully withstood the waves.
153
Among the factors in the high death toll was the unexpectedly large water surge. The
sea walls
in several cities had been built to protect against tsunamis of much lower heights. Also, many people caught in the tsunami thought they were on high enough ground to be safe.
154
According to a special committee on disaster prevention designated by the Japanese government, the tsunami protection policy had been intended to deal with only tsunamis that had been scientifically proved to occur repeatedly. The committee advised that future policy should be to protect against the highest possible tsunami. Because tsunami walls had been
overtopped
, the committee also suggested, besides building taller tsunami walls, also teaching citizens how to evacuate if a large-scale tsunami should strike.
155
156
Tsunami flooding on the
Sendai Airport
runway
Large parts of
Kuji
and the southern section of
Ōfunato
including the port area were almost entirely destroyed.
157
158
Also largely destroyed was
Rikuzentakata
, where the tsunami was three stories high.
159
160
Other cities destroyed or heavily damaged by the tsunami include
Kamaishi
Miyako
Ōtsuchi
, and
Yamada
(in Iwate Prefecture),
Namie
Sōma
, and
Minamisōma
(in Fukushima Prefecture) and
Shichigahama
Higashimatsushima
Onagawa
Natori
Ishinomaki
, and
Kesennuma
(in Miyagi Prefecture).
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
The most severe effects of the tsunami were felt along a 670-kilometer-long (420 mi) stretch of coastline from
Erimo, Hokkaido
, in the north to
Ōarai, Ibaraki
, in the south, with most of the destruction in that area occurring in the hour following the earthquake.
168
Near Ōarai, people captured images of a huge
whirlpool
that had been generated by the tsunami.
169
The tsunami washed away the sole bridge to Miyatojima, Miyagi, isolating the island's 900 residents.
170
A 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) high tsunami hit
Chiba Prefecture
about
hours after the quake, causing heavy damage to cities such as
Asahi
171
On 13 March 2011, the
Japan Meteorological Agency
(JMA) published details of tsunami observations recorded around the coastline of Japan following the earthquake. These observations included tsunami maximum readings of over 3 meters (9.8 ft) at the following locations and times on 11 March 2011, following the earthquake at 14:46 JST:
172
Peak tsunami wave height summits, color-coded with red representing most severe
15:12 JST – off
Kamaishi
– 6.8 meters (22 ft)
15:15 JST –
Ōfunato
– 3.2 meters (10 ft) or higher
15:20 JST –
Ishinomaki-shi Ayukawa
– 3.3 meters (11 ft) or higher
15:21 JST –
Miyako
– 4 meters (13 ft) or higher
15:21 JST –
Kamaishi
– 4.1 meters (13 ft) or higher
15:44 JST –
Erimo-cho Shoya
– 3.5 meters (11 ft)
15:50 JST –
Sōma
– 7.3 meters (24 ft) or higher
16:52 JST –
Ōarai
– 4.2 meters (14 ft)
Many areas were also affected by waves of 1 to 3 meters (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) in height, and the JMA bulletin also included the caveat that
"At some parts of the coasts, tsunamis may be higher than those observed at the observation sites."
The timing of the earliest recorded tsunami maximum readings ranged from 15:12 to 15:21, between 26 and 35 minutes after the earthquake had struck. The bulletin also included initial tsunami observation details, as well as more detailed maps for the coastlines affected by the tsunami waves.
173
174
JMA also reported offshore tsunami height recorded by
telemetry
from
moored
GPS
wave-height meter buoys as follows:
175
offshore of central
Iwate
Miyako
) – 6.3 meters (21 ft)
offshore of northern
Iwate
Kuji
) – 6 meters (20 ft)
offshore of northern
Miyagi
Kesennuma
) – 6 meters (20 ft)
On 25 March 2011, Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI) reported tsunami height by visiting the port sites as follows:
176
Port of Hachinohe
– 5–6 meters (16–20 ft)
Port of Hachinohe area – 8–9 meters (26–30 ft)
Port of
Kuji
– 8–9 meters (26–30 ft)
Port of
Kamaishi
– 7–9 meters (23–30 ft)
Port of
Ōfunato
– 9.5 meters (31 ft)
Run up height, port of
Ōfunato
area – 24 meters (79 ft)
Fishery port of
Onagawa
– 15 meters (49 ft)
Port of
Ishinomaki
– 5 meters (16 ft)
Shiogama section of
Shiogama
Sendai
port – 4 meters (13 ft)
Sendai section of Shiogama-Sendai port – 8 meters (26 ft)
Sendai Airport
area – 12 meters (39 ft)
The tsunami at Ryōri Bay (
綾里湾
), Ōfunato reached a height of 40.1 meters (132 ft) (run-up elevation). Fishing equipment was scattered on the high cliff above the bay.
177
178
At
Tarō, Iwate
, the tsunami reached a height of 37.9 meters (124 ft) up the slope of a mountain some 200 meters (660 ft) away from the
coastline
179
Also, at the slope of a nearby mountain from 400 meters (1,300 ft) away at Aneyoshi fishery port (
姉吉漁港
) of Omoe peninsula (
重茂半島
) in
Miyako, Iwate
Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology
found estimated tsunami run up height of 38.9 meters (128 ft).
37
This height is deemed the record in Japan historically, as of reporting date, that exceeds 38.2 meters (125 ft) from the
1896 Sanriku earthquake
180
It was also estimated that the tsunami reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture. The inundated areas closely matched those of the
869 Sanriku tsunami
181
NOAA
animation of the tsunami's propagation
Inundation heights were observed along 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) of the coast from Hokkaido to Kyushu in a 2012 study. Maximum
run-up
heights greater than 10 meters (33 ft) were distributed along 530 kilometers (330 mi) of coast, and maximum run-up heights greater than 20 meters (66 ft) were distributed along 200 kilometers (120 mi) of the coast, measured directly.
182
The tsunami resulted in significant erosion of the Rikuzen-Takata coastline, mainly caused by backwash. A 2016 study indicated that the coast has not naturally recovered at a desirable rate since the tsunami.
183
Tsunami in
Miyako, Iwate
A Japanese government study found that 58% of people in coastal areas in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures heeded tsunami warnings immediately after the quake and headed for higher ground. Of those who attempted to evacuate after hearing the warning, only five percent were caught in the tsunami. Of those who did not heed the warning, 49% were hit by the water.
184
Delayed evacuations in response to the warnings had a number of causes. 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. The discrepancy arose as follows: in order to produce a quick prediction of a tsunami's height and thus to provide a timely warning, the initial earthquake and tsunami warning that was issued for the event was based on a calculation that requires only about three minutes. This calculation is, in turn, based on the maximum amplitude of the seismic wave. The amplitude of the seismic wave is measured using the
JMA magnitude scale
, which is similar to
Richter scale
. However, these scales "saturate" for earthquakes that are above a certain magnitude (magnitude 8 on the JMA scale); that is, in the case of very large earthquakes, the scales' values change little despite large differences in the earthquakes' energy. This resulted in an underestimation of the tsunami's height in initial reports. Problems in issuing updates also contributed to delays in evacuations. The warning system was supposed to be updated about 15 minutes after the earthquake occurred, by which time the calculation for the
moment magnitude scale
would normally be completed. 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. 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. Also, observed data from tidal meters that were located off the coast were not fully reflected in the second warning. Furthermore, shortly after the earthquake, some wave meters reported a fluctuation of "20 centimeters (7.9 in)", and this value was broadcast throughout the mass media and the warning system, which caused some residents to underestimate the danger of their situation and even delayed or suspended their evacuation.
185
186
In response to the aforementioned shortcomings in the tsunami warning system, JMA began an investigation in 2011 and updated their system in 2013. In the updated system, for a powerful earthquake that is capable of causing the JMA magnitude scale to saturate, no quantitative prediction will be released in the initial warning; instead, there will be words that describe the situation's emergency. There are plans to install new teleseismometers with the ability to measure larger earthquakes, which would allow the calculation of a quake's moment magnitude scale in a timely manner. JMA also implemented a simpler empirical method to integrate, into a tsunami warning, data from GPS tidal meters as well as from undersea water pressure meters, and there are plans to install more of these meters and to develop further technology to utilize data observed by them. To prevent under-reporting of tsunami heights, early quantitative observation data that are smaller than the expected amplitude will be overridden and the public will instead be told that the situation is under observation. About 90 seconds after an earthquake, an additional report on the possibility of a tsunami will also be included in observation reports, in order to warn people before the JMA magnitude can be calculated.
185
186
Elsewhere across the Pacific
Bonin petrel
trapped in tsunami debris on
Midway Atoll
before being rescued
The
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
(PTWC) in Hawaii issued tsunami watches and announcements for locations in the Pacific. At 07:30 UTC, PTWC issued a widespread tsunami warning covering the entire Pacific Ocean.
187
188
Russia evacuated 11,000 residents from coastal areas of the
Kuril Islands
189
The United States
National Tsunami Warning Center
issued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas in most of
California
, all of
Oregon
, and the western part of
Alaska
, and a tsunami advisory covering the Pacific coastlines of most of Alaska, and all of
Washington
and
British Columbia
, Canada.
190
191
In
California
and
Oregon
, up to 2.4 m-high (7.9 ft) tsunami waves hit some areas, damaging docks and harbors and causing over US$10 million in damage.
192
In
Curry County, Oregon
, US$7 million in damage occurred including the destruction of 1,100 m (3,600 ft) of docks at the
Brookings
harbor; the county received over US$1 million in
FEMA
emergency grants from the US Federal Government.
193
Surges of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) hit
Vancouver Island
in Canada
191
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.
194
195
Fishing boats that were moved to higher ground in anticipation of tsunami arrival, in
Pichilemu
, Chile
In the
Philippines
, waves up to 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) high hit the eastern seaboard of the country. Some houses along the coast in
Jayapura, Indonesia
were destroyed.
196
Authorities in
Wewak
East Sepik
, Papua New Guinea evacuated 100 patients from the city's Boram Hospital before it was hit by waves, causing an estimated US$4 million in damage.
197
Hawaii estimated damage to public infrastructure alone at US$3 million, with damage to private properties, including resort hotels such as
Four Seasons Resort Hualalai
, estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
198
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
199
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.
200
However, in Guam some roads were closed off and people were evacuated from low-lying areas.
201
A Japanese Boat that washed ashore on the west coast of the United States, now preserved at the
Columbia River Maritime Museum
Along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and South America, tsunami surges were reported, but in most places caused little or no damage.
202
Peru
reported a wave of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and more than 300 homes damaged.
202
The surge in
Chile
was large enough to damage more than 200 houses,
203
with waves of up to 3 m (9.8 ft).
204
205
In the
Galápagos Islands
, 260 families received assistance following a 3 m (9.8 ft) surge which arrived 20 hours after the earthquake, after the tsunami warning had been lifted.
206
207
There was a great deal of damage to buildings on the islands and one man was injured but there were no reported fatalities.
206
208
After a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high surge hit Chile, it was reported that the reflection from those surges traveled
back
across the Pacific, causing a 30–60 cm (12–24 in) surge in Japan, 47–48 hours after the earthquake, according to observation from multiple
tide gauges
, including in Onahama, Owase, and Kushimoto.
209
210
The tsunami broke
icebergs
off the
Sulzberger Ice Shelf
in
Antarctica
, 13,000 km (8,100 mi) away. The main iceberg measured 9.5 km × 6.5 km (5.9 mi × 4.0 mi) (approximately the area of
Manhattan Island
) and about 80 m (260 ft) thick. A total of 125 km
(48 sq mi; 31,000 acres) of ice broke away.
211
212
As of April 2012, wreckage from the tsunami spread around the world, including a
soccer
ball which was found in Alaska's
Middleton Island
and a Japanese motorcycle found in British Columbia, Canada.
213
214
Norway
On the day of the earthquake, the waters of several
fjords
across Norway appeared to seethe as if boiling, and formed waves that rolled onto shores, most prominently in
Sognefjorden
, where the phenomenon was caught on film. After two years of research into the incidents in Norway, scientists concluded that the seismic energy of the earthquake generated
seiche
waves thousands of kilometers away.
99
215
Casualties
Japan
VA-TF1
Rescue team from
Fairfax County, Virginia
searching for survivors in
Kamaishi
Iwate Prefecture
. Snow arrived minutes before or after the tsunami, depending on locations.
40
Key statistics
Age
Among all deaths
216
<9
3.0%
10–19
2.7%
20–29
3.4%
30–39
5.5%
40–49
7.3%
50–59
12.3%
60–69
19.2%
70–79
24.5%
>80
22.1%
Places with most deaths
42
Prefecture
Municipality
Deaths
Missing
Miyagi
Ishinomaki
City
3,553
418
Iwate
Rikuzentakata
City
1,606
202
Miyagi
Kesennuma
City
1,218
214
Miyagi
Higashimatsushima
City
1,132
23
Fukushima
Minamisoma
City
1,050
111
Iwate
Kamaishi
City
994
152
Miyagi
Natori
City
954
38
Miyagi
Sendai
City
923
27
Iwate
Ōtsuchi
Town
856
416
Miyagi
Yamamoto
Town
701
17
Damage and casualty assessment statistics by prefecture (as of 8 March 2022)
217
Prefecture
Area
Fatalities
Missing
Injuries
Destroyed houses
Badly damaged houses
Slightly damaged houses
Affected public buildings
Other damaged structures
Fires
Akita
Akita
Noshiro
Yokote
Yuzawa
Daisen
Ugo
Subtotal
11
Aomori
Aomori
Hirosaki
17
Hachinohe
71
254
624
851
1,146
Goshogawara
Towada
Misawa
19
22
40
102
Mustu
Fujisaki
Tōhoku
Rokkasho
Oirase
23
46
76
146
Sannohe
Gonohe
Nanbu
Hashikami
12
33
Subtotal
110
308
701
1,005
1,402
11
Hokkaido
Hakodate
Tomakomai
Eniwa
Samani
27
Erimo
Subtotal
17
452
Iwate
Morioka
10
984
Miyako
475
94
33
2,677
1,328
444
70
Ōfunato
423
79
2,791
1,147
1,654
80
Hanamaki
20
60
1,028
95
Kitakami
34
30
460
1,498
16
89
Kuji
10
65
213
339
17
584
Tōno
622
246
Ichinoseki
15
35
57
737
3,364
1,292
Rikuzentakata
1,606
202
3,807
240
3,988
61
Kamaishi
994
152
2,957
699
1,048
89
Ninohe
38
Ōshū
21
51
414
2,962
460
Takizawa
12
266
27
82
Shizukuishi
Shiwa
113
Yahaba
151
Kanegasaki
12
23
Hiraizumi
Sumita
Ōtsuchi
856
416
3,579
588
208
10
Yamada
687
145
2,762
405
202
65
Iwaizumi
10
177
23
15
185
Tanohata
17
15
225
45
11
16
311
Fudai
16
158
Noda
39
19
311
168
36
505
Hirono
10
16
39
18
161
Ichinohe
Subtotal
5,145
1,111
213
19,508
6,571
19,065
529
4,178
33
Miyagi
Sendai
923
27
2,277
30,034
109,609
116,046
37
Ishinomaki
3,553
418
20,044
13,049
19,948
24
Shiogama
42
11
672
3,278
6,993
1,615
Kesennuma
1,218
214
8,483
2,571
4,761
9,605
Shiroishi
18
40
566
2,171
Natori
954
38
208
2,801
1,129
10,061
1,419
12
Kakuda
13
158
1,036
15
Tagajō
219
1,746
3,730
6,166
16
Iwanuma
186
293
736
1,606
3,086
15
3,111
Tome
10
52
201
1,801
3,362
28
795
Kurihara
550
58
372
4,552
46
Higashimatsushima
1,132
23
121
5,519
5,558
3,504
937
Ōsaki
226
596
2,434
9,138
71
257
Tomiya
32
16
537
5,305
Zaō
16
156
1,143
113
Ōgawara
10
148
1,333
117
Murata
116
652
12
Shibata
13
189
1,707
Kawasaki
14
460
Marumori
38
513
22
Watari
283
45
2,389
1,150
2,048
60
2,960
Yamamoto
701
17
90
2,217
1,085
1,138
339
Matsushima
37
221
1,785
1,561
122
Shichigahama
79
674
650
2,605
11
632
Rifu
56
901
3,564
166
Taiwa
42
268
2,791
Ōsato
50
274
791
205
Ōhira
19
764
Shikama
15
215
17
Kami
33
35
749
22
Wakuya
45
144
735
1,034
541
Misato
67
129
627
3,130
1,703
Onagawa
615
257
2,924
349
661
106
1,484
Minamisanriku
620
211
3,143
178
1,204
14
220
Subtotal
10,567
1,217
4,148
83,005
155,130
224,202
9,948
16,848
137
Yamagata
Yamagata
17
812
Shinjō
Kaminoyama
18
Nagai
14
Obanazawa
171
Nan'yō
12
Nakayama
62
33
Kahoku
Ōishida
28
Kaneyama
Kawanishi
11
Subtotal
45
14
1,249
124
Fukushima
Fukushima
14
19
204
3,980
6,549
2,117
Aizuwakamatsu
87
5,720
131
Kōriyama
11
2,455
21,712
34,545
69
1,467
Iwaki
437
37
4,644
32,921
26,004
12,736
13
Shirakawa
12
240
1,818
7,068
42
2,059
Sukagawa
11
1,249
3,503
10,557
93
947
Sōma
466
19
11
1,004
833
3,397
2,514
Nihonmatsu
11
475
5,399
93
140
Tamura
14
19
196
4,137
114
500
Minamisōma
1,050
111
59
2,323
2,430
3,718
49
6,043
Date
25
239
850
162
84
Motomiya
16
222
3,246
13
227
Koori
55
187
1,175
399
Kunimi
20
191
565
508
635
Kawamata
29
28
30
1,287
406
Ōtama
27
734
41
Kagamiishi
172
768
1,666
37
642
Ten-ei
72
139
1,561
16
126
Minamiaizu
Bandai
21
Inawashiro
18
63
666
148
Aizubange
32
309
Yugawa
39
123
Aizumisato
331
Nishigō
43
305
2,009
36
238
Izumizaki
62
323
625
Nakajima
29
954
Yabuki
294
1,587
1,827
59
1,133
Tanagura
24
1,092
19
Yamatsuri
63
251
Samegawa
112
11
39
Ishikawa
31
2,620
27
22
Tamakawa
47
665
18
257
Hirata
15
441
26
90
Asakawa
586
17
134
Furudono
27
785
16
202
Miharu
32
231
1,404
338
Ono
45
1,422
147
Hirono
49
160
593
3,244
239
Naraha
152
147
1,218
289
61
Tomioka
472
355
2,819
2,130
288
Kawauchi
102
568
167
225
Ōkuma
143
272
2,075
26
109
Futaba
175
103
14
Namie
594
31
772
2,384
154
296
Katsurao
42
31
194
Shinchi
98
10
439
138
669
24
991
Iitate
42
113
Subtotal
3,931
224
183
15,435
82,783
141,054
1,010
36,882
38
Ibaraki
Mito
84
164
1,905
29,595
237
Hitachi
13
170
436
3,991
13,981
Tsuchiura
277
6,253
10
1,161
Koga
17
3,255
51
91
Ishioka
16
22
179
4,023
69
437
Yūki
31
3,134
42
Ryūgasaki
81
8,277
37
310
Shimotsuma
48
325
2,667
10
128
Jōsō
71
7,894
45
Hitachiōta
106
1,234
4,448
100
2,414
Takahagi
21
142
1,042
3,963
10
580
Kitaibaraki
10
188
188
1,336
4,721
2,427
Kasama
49
17
141
7,449
Toride
10
28
372
3,764
80
Ushiku
106
3,086
60
78
Tsukuba
13
268
3,893
204
1,423
Hitachinaka
28
86
801
6,105
1,518
Kashima
511
3,354
3,288
62
Itako
96
2,742
2,771
41
533
Moriya
12
756
23
30
Hitachiōmiya
10
11
82
4,622
89
1,022
Naka
64
263
7,188
46
1,813
Chikusei
199
4,143
965
Bandō
25
2,372
18
Inashiki
135
480
3,680
28
448
Kasumigaura
20
1,520
37
184
Sakuragawa
36
611
2,819
63
1,203
Kamisu
140
1,809
4,685
16
413
Namegata
120
884
2,563
46
Hokota
15
99
736
2,430
136
41
Tsukubamirai
11
55
2,371
44
513
Omitama
18
133
4,295
38
1,564
Ibaraki
27
578
3,369
29
1,230
Ōarai
14
303
1,298
211
Shirosato
15
220
2,470
34
Tōkai
29
158
3,965
73
692
Daigo
797
15
Miho
19
897
13
144
Ami
26
1,649
Kawachi
70
1,046
32
Yachiyo
4,291
Tone
22
98
3,106
Subtotal
66
714
2,638
25,056
190,471
1,763
21,668
31
Tochigi
Utsunomiya
242
19,385
220
3,610
Ashikaga
11
3,237
Tochigi
1,400
Sano
846
50
299
Kanuma
15
1,351
52
88
Nikkō
538
40
Oyama
538
Mooka
12
118
14,423
Ōtawara
119
2,732
98
785
Yaita
51
90
2,903
21
563
Nasushiobara
12
38
1,272
377
Sakura
11
25
2,556
12
866
Nasukarasuyama
66
135
3,203
193
Shimotsuke
20
13
1,048
23
Mashiko
14
155
2,100
57
360
Motegi
12
2,012
188
Ichikai
16
69
1,966
14
628
Haga
28
16
133
2,366
44
797
Mibu
438
100
Takanezawa
717
2,716
353
Nasu
40
143
1,568
65
295
Nakagawa
67
3,162
14
189
Subtotal
133
261
2,118
74,173
718
9,706
Gumna
Maebashi
2,211
Takasaki
1,194
Kiryū
3,168
Isesaki
2,706
Ōta
11
2,473
Numata
56
Tatebayashi
990
Shibukawa
740
Tomioka
21
Annaka
139
Yoshioka
Nakanojō
Kusatsu
Itakura, Gunma
243
Ōizumi
1,122
Ōra
1,210
Subtotal
42
17,679
Saitama
Saitama
15
43
1,064
Kawagoe
46
Kumagaya
962
Kawaguchi
200
Gyōda
857
Tokorozawa
31
Kazo
32
3,424
95
Kasukabe
13
350
Hanyū
1,052
Kōnosu
1,645
Fukaya
73
Ageo
343
Sōka
10
50
Koshigaya
29
Toda
94
Hatogaya
31
Asaka
35
Asaka
21
Kuki
12
102
507
Misato
178
Satte
428
Tsurugashima
68
Yoshikawa
222
Fujimino
12
Ogano
Miyajima
419
Sugito
376
Subtotal
104
24
199
16,511
95
12
Chiba
Chiba
20
30
646
4,508
Chōshi
20
30
148
2,424
Ichikawa
10
42
866
Funabashi
33
13
477
4,803
31
Matsudo
14
134
1,792
10
Noda
1,935
Mobara
68
Narita
17
68
1,327
Sakura
33
240
1,669
Tōgane
15
164
Asahi
14
12
318
916
2,546
Narashino
717
4,619
Kashiwa
24
17
4,803
Katsuura
Ichihara
1,171
Nagareyama
1,077
Yachiyo
24
1,507
Abiko
134
101
3,323
19
Kamogawa
Kamagaya
810
Kimitsu
10
Urayasu
29
10
3,649
5,111
93
Yotsukaidō
532
Sodegaura
25
Yachimata
284
Inzai
11
79
2,222
Shiroi
422
Tomisato
11
687
Tomisato
20
1,701
12
Katori
96
2,216
1,764
439
Sanmu
43
442
291
126
Isumi
56
Ōamishirasato
26
58
Shisui
252
Sakae
10
109
1,103
77
Kōzaki
92
193
Tako
1,036
Tōnoshō
10
1,800
Kujūkuri
103
40
Shibayama
104
Yokoshibahikari
282
Shirako
Subtotal
22
268
807
10,313
57,449
12
827
18
Tokyo
Chiyoda
28
66
61
Chūō
66
Minato
21
79
14
Bunkyō
203
39
Taitō
18
201
52
Sumida
44
521
116
Kōtō
22
374
16
Ōta
84
92
22
Ōta
139
48
Suginami
10
22
970
Kita
24
487
46
17
Arakawa
158
Itabashi
10
194
43
80
Adachi
34
17
518
173
Katsushika
13
271
33
61
Edogawa
10
408
Mitaka
99
48
Fuchū
Machida
15
187
69
Tama
Inagi
11
Hamura
Subtotal
119
20
223
6,570
419
786
35
Kanagawa
Yokohama
76
29
233
12
Kawasaki
17
133
Sagamihara
20
Yokosuka
Hiratsuka
16
Fujisawa
Odawara
23
Chigasaki
Hadano
12
16
Atsugi
Yamato
Ebina
Minamiashigara
Hayama
Hakone
Yugawara
Subtotal
137
41
459
13
Niigata
Nagaoka
Tōkamachi
Minamiuonuma
Subtotal
17
Yamanashi
Kōfu
Fuefuki
Subtotal
Nagano
Komagane
Subtotal
Shizuoka
Fuji
Gotemba
Subtotal
13
Mie
Yokkaichi
Subtotal
Osaka
Yokkaichi
Subtotal
Kōchi
Kuroshio
Subtotal
Total
19,759
2,553
6,242
122,006
283,160
749,934
14,527
92,892
330
The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,
218
6,242 injured,
219
and 2,553 missing.
220
There were 10,567 deaths in
Miyagi
, 5,145 in
Iwate
, 3,920 in
Fukushima
, 66 in
Ibaraki
, 22 in
Chiba
, eight in
Tokyo
, six in
Kanagawa
, four in
Tochigi
, three each in
Aomori
and
Yamagata
, and one each in
Gunma
Saitama
and
Hokkaido
42
The leading causes of death were drowning (90.64% or 14,308 bodies), burning (0.9% or 145 bodies) and others (4.2% or 667 bodies, mostly crushed by heavy objects).
216
Injuries related to
nuclear exposure
or the
discharge of radioactive water in Fukushima
are difficult to trace as 60% of the 20,000 workers on-site declined to participate in state-sponsored free health checks.
221
Elderly aged over 60 account for 65.8% of all deaths, as shown on the table to the right.
216
For the purpose of relief fund, an "earthquake-related death" was defined to include "Physical and mental fatigue caused by life in temporary shelter", "Physical and mental fatigue caused by evacuation", "Delayed treatment due to an inoperative hospital", "Physical and mental fatigue caused by stress from the earthquake and tsunami". A few cases of suicide are also included. Most of these deaths occurred during the first six months after the earthquake and the number dropped thereafter, but as time has passed, the number has continued to increase. Most of these deaths occurred in Fukushima Prefecture, where the prefectural government has suggested that they could be due to evacuations caused by the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
222
Within Fukushima Prefecture, these indirect casualties have already resulted in more deaths than the number of people killed directly by earthquake and tsunami.
223
224
225
Others
Save the Children
reports that as many as 100,000 children were uprooted from their homes, some of whom were separated from their families because the earthquake occurred during the school day.
226
236 children were orphaned in the prefectures of
Iwate
Miyagi
and
Fukushima
by the disaster;
227
228
1,580 children lost either one or both parents,
229
846 in Miyagi, 572 in Iwate, and 162 in Fukushima.
230
The quake and tsunami killed 378 elementary, middle-school, and high school students and left 158 others missing.
231
One elementary school in
Ishinomaki, Miyagi
Okawa Elementary School
, lost 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers in the tsunami due to poor decision making in evacuation.
40
232
233
234
The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths of nineteen foreigners.
235
Among them were two English teachers from the United States affiliated with the
Japan Exchange and Teaching Program
236
a Canadian missionary in
Shiogama
237
and citizens of China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan and the Philippines.
By 9:30 UTC on 11 March 2011,
Google Person Finder
, which was previously used in the
Haitian
Chilean
, and
Christchurch, New Zealand
earthquakes, was collecting information about survivors and their locations.
238
239
Japanese funerals
are normally elaborate Buddhist ceremonies that entail cremation. The thousands of bodies, however, exceeded the capacity of available
crematoriums
and
morgues
, many of them damaged,
240
241
and there were shortages of both kerosene—each cremation requires 50 litres—and
dry ice
for preservation.
242
The single crematorium in
Higashimatsushima
, for example, could only handle four bodies a day, although hundreds were found there.
243
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.
244
As of 27 May 2011, three
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
members had died while conducting relief operations in Tōhoku.
245
As of March 2012, the Japanese government had recognized 1,331 deaths as indirectly related to the earthquake, such as caused by harsh living conditions after the disaster.
246
As of 30 April 2012, 18 people had died and 420 had been injured while participating in disaster recovery or clean-up efforts.
247
Overseas
The tsunami was reported to have caused several deaths outside Japan. One man was killed in
Jayapura
Papua
Indonesia
after being swept out to sea.
12
A man who is said to have been attempting to photograph the oncoming tsunami at the mouth of the
Klamath River
, south of
Crescent City, California
, was swept out to sea.
248
His body was found on 2 April 2011 along Ocean Beach in
Fort Stevens State Park
, Oregon, 530 km (330 mi) to the north.
13
Damage and effects
Panorama of Rikuzentakata
The degree and extent of damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami were enormous, with most of the damage being caused by the tsunami. 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.
249
Estimates of the cost of the damage range well into the tens of billions of
US dollars
; before-and-after
satellite
photographs of devastated regions show immense damage.
250
251
Although Japan has invested the equivalent of billions of dollars on anti-tsunami seawalls which line at least 40% of its 34,751 km (21,593 mi) coastline and stand up to 12 m (39 ft) high, the tsunami simply washed over the top of some seawalls, collapsing some in the process.
252
A fire that broke out in
Tokyo
Japan's
National Police Agency
said on 3 April 2011, that 45,700 buildings were destroyed and 144,300 were damaged by the quake and tsunami. The damaged buildings included 29,500 structures in Miyagi Prefecture, 12,500 in Iwate Prefecture and 2,400 in Fukushima Prefecture.
253
Three hundred hospitals with 20 beds or more in Tōhoku were damaged by the disaster, with 11 being completely destroyed.
254
The earthquake and tsunami created an estimated 24–25 million
tons
vague
of rubble and debris in Japan.
255
256
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".
257
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.
39
258
Japanese Prime Minister
Naoto Kan
said, "In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan."
259
Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water.
260
An estimated 230,000 automobiles and trucks were damaged or destroyed in the disaster. As of the end of May 2011, residents of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures had requested the deregistration of 15,000 vehicles, meaning that the owners of those vehicles were writing them off as unrepairable or unsalvageable.
261
Weather conditions
Snowfall in
Ishinomaki
, 16 March. Snow fell across several areas where the tsunami struck, further worsening the conditions and hampering rescue efforts.
Low temperature and
snowfall
were major concerns after the earthquake.
262
Snow arrived minutes before or after the tsunami, depending on locations.
40
In
Ishinomaki
, the city which suffered the most deaths,
42
a temperature of 0 °C (32 °F) was measured, and it began to snow within a couple of hours of the earthquake.
43
40
Major snow fell again on 16 March,
41
263
and intermittently in the coming weeks.
264
18 March was the coldest of that month, recording −4 to 6 °C (25 to 43 °F) in
Sendai
264
41
Photos of city ruins covered with snow were featured in various photo albums in international media, including
NASA
265
266
267
Waste
The tsunami produced huge amounts of debris: estimates of 5 million tonnes of waste were reported by the
Japanese Ministry of the Environment
. Some of this waste, mostly plastic and
styrofoam
, washed up on the coasts of Canada and the United States in late 2011. Along the west coast of the United States, this increased the amount of litter by a factor of ten and may have transported
alien species
268
Ports
A damaged crane stands next to a ship lifted onto the docks at
Sendai
's port.
All of Japan's ports were briefly shut down after the earthquake, though the ones in Tokyo and southwards soon re-opened. Fifteen ports were located in the disaster zone. The north eastern ports of Hachinohe, Sendai, Ishinomaki and Onahama were destroyed, while the
Port of Chiba
(which serves the hydrocarbon industry) and Japan's ninth-largest container port at
Kashima
were also affected, though less severely. The ports at Hitachinaka, Hitachi, Soma, Shiogama, Kesennuma, Ofunato, Kamashi and Miyako were also damaged and closed to ships.
269
All 15 ports reopened to limited ship traffic by 29 March 2011.
270
A total of 319 fishing ports, about 10% of Japan's fishing ports, were damaged in the disaster.
271
Most were restored to operating condition by 18 April 2012.
272
The
Port of Tokyo
suffered slight damage; the effects of the quake included visible smoke rising from a building in the port with parts of the port areas being flooded, including
soil liquefaction
in
Tokyo Disneyland
's parking lot.
273
274
Dams and water problems
Dam failure at Fujinuma
The
Fujinuma irrigation dam
in
Sukagawa
ruptured,
275
causing flooding and the washing away of five homes.
276
Eight people were missing and four bodies were discovered by the morning.
277
278
279
Reportedly, some locals had attempted to repair leaks in the dam before it completely
failed
280
On 12 March 252 dams were inspected and it was discovered that six
embankment dams
had shallow cracks on their crests. The reservoir at one concrete
gravity dam
suffered a small non-serious
slope failure
. All damaged dams are functioning with no problems. Four dams within the quake area were unreachable.
281
In the immediate aftermath of the calamity, at least 1.5 million households were reported to have lost access to water supplies.
260
282
By 21 March 2011, this number fell to 1.04 million.
283
Electricity
Geographic divide between 50 hertz systems and 60 hertz systems in Japan's electricity distribution network
According to the Japanese trade ministry, around 4.4 million households served by
Tōhoku Electric Power
(TEP) in northeastern Japan were left without electricity.
284
Several nuclear and conventional power plants went offline, reducing the
Tokyo Electric Power Company
's (TEPCO) total capacity by 21 GW.
285
Rolling blackouts
began on 14 March due to power shortages caused by the earthquake.
286
TEPCO, which normally provides approximately 40
GW
of electricity, announced that it could only provide about 30 GW, because 40% of the electricity used in the greater Tokyo area was supplied by reactors in the
Niigata
and
Fukushima
prefectures.
287
The reactors at the
Fukushima Daiichi
and
Fukushima Dai-ni
plants were automatically taken offline when the first earthquake occurred and sustained major damage from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Rolling blackouts of approximately three hours were experienced throughout April and May while TEPCO scrambled to find a temporary power solution. The blackouts affected Tokyo,
Kanagawa
, Eastern
Shizuoka
Yamanashi
Chiba
Ibaraki
Saitama
Tochigi
, and
Gunma
prefectures.
288
Voluntary reductions in electricity use by consumers in the Kanto area helped reduce the predicted frequency and duration of the blackouts.
289
By 21 March 2011, the number of households in the north without electricity fell to 242,927.
283
A damaged
transmission tower
and severed power lines in
Minamisōma, Fukushima
Tōhoku Electric Power was not able to provide the Kanto region with additional power because TEP's power plants were also damaged in the earthquake.
Kansai Electric Power Company
(Kepco) could not share electricity, because its system operated at 60 hertz, whereas TEPCO and TEP operate their systems at 50 hertz; the disparity is due to early industrial and infrastructure development in the 1880s that left Japan without a unified national
power grid
290
Two substations, one in Shizuoka Prefecture and one in Nagano Prefecture, were able to convert between frequencies and transfer electricity from Kansai to Kanto and Tōhoku, but their capacity was limited to 1 GW. With damage to so many power plants, it was feared it might be years before a long-term solution could be found.
291
To help alleviate the shortage, three steel manufacturers in the Kanto region contributed electricity produced by their in-house conventional power stations to TEPCO for distribution to the general public.
Sumitomo Metal Industries
could produce up to 500 MW,
JFE Steel
400 MW, and
Nippon Steel
500 MW of electric power.
292
Auto and auto parts makers in Kanto and Tōhoku agreed in May 2011 to operate their factories on Saturdays and Sundays and close on Thursdays and Fridays to help alleviate electricity shortages during the summer of 2011.
293
The public and other companies were also encouraged to conserve electricity in the 2011 summer months (
Setsuden
).
294
The expected electricity crisis in 2011 summer was successfully prevented thanks to all the
setsuden
measures. 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. Overall electricity consumption during July and August was also 14% less than in the previous year.
295
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.
296
297
298
The Japanese government continued to ask the public to conserve electricity until 2016, when it is predicted that the supply will be sufficient to meet demand,
needs update
thanks to the deepening of the mindset to conserve electricity among corporate and general public, addition of new electricity providers due to the
electricity liberalization
policy, increased output from renewable energy as well as fossil fuel power stations, as well as sharing of electricity between different electricity companies.
299
300
301
Oil, gas and coal
Fire at the Cosmo Oil refinery in
Ichihara
An aerial view of the smoke from the Sendai
Nippon Oil
refinery
A 220,000-barrel-per-day (35,000 m
302
oil refinery
of
Cosmo Oil Company
was set on fire by the quake at
Ichihara
Chiba Prefecture
, to the east of Tokyo.
303
304
It was extinguished after ten days, injuring six people, and destroying storage tanks.
305
Other refineries halted production due to safety checks and power loss.
306
307
In Sendai, a 145,000-barrel-per-day (23,100 m
) refinery owned by the largest refiner in Japan,
JX Nippon Oil & Energy
, was also set ablaze by the quake.
302
Workers were evacuated,
308
but tsunami warnings hindered efforts to extinguish the fire until 14 March, when officials planned to do so.
302
An analyst estimated that consumption of various types of oil could have increased by as much as 300,000 barrels (48,000 m
) per day (as well as LNG), as back-up power plants burning
fossil fuels
attempted to compensate for the loss of 11 GW of Japan's nuclear power capacity.
309
310
The city-owned plant for importing
liquefied natural gas
in Sendai was severely damaged, and supplies were halted for at least a month.
311
In addition to refining and storage, several power plants were damaged. These include Sendai #4, New-Sendai #1 and #2, Haranomachi #1 and #2, Hirono #2 and #4 and Hitachinaka #1.
312
Nuclear power plants
Further information:
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
The
Fukushima Daiichi
Fukushima Daini
Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant
and
Tōkai nuclear power stations
, consisting of a total eleven reactors, were
automatically shut down
following the earthquake.
313
Higashidōri
, also on the northeast coast, was already shut down for a periodic inspection. Cooling is needed to remove
decay heat
after a
Generation II reactor
has been shut down, and to maintain spent fuel pools. The backup cooling process is powered by emergency diesel generators at the plants and at
Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant
314
At Fukushima Daiichi and Daini, tsunami waves overtopped seawalls and destroyed diesel backup power systems, leading to severe problems at Fukushima Daiichi, including three large explosions and radioactive leakage. Subsequent analysis found that many Japanese nuclear plants, including Fukushima Daiichi, were not adequately protected against tsunamis.
315
Over 200,000 people were evacuated.
316
The
discharge of radioactive water in Fukushima
was confirmed in later analysis at the three reactors at
Fukushima I
(Units 1, 2, and 3), which suffered meltdowns and continued to leak coolant water.
49
The aftershock on 7 April caused the loss of external power to Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant but backup generators were functional.
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". A spill of "up to 3.8 litres [1.0 US gal]" of radioactive water also occurred at Onagawa following the aftershock.
317
A report by the
IAEA
in 2012 found that the
Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant
had remained largely undamaged.
318
In 2013, only two nuclear reactors in Japan had been restarted since the 2011 shutdowns.
citation needed
In February 2019, there were 42 operable reactors in Japan. Of these, only nine reactors in five power plants were operating after having been restarted post-2011.
319
Fukushima meltdowns
Main article:
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
A loose cow roaming through
Namie, Fukushima
after the area was evacuated
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.
320
321
322
Officials from the Japanese
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency
reported that radiation levels inside the plant were up to 1,000 times normal levels,
323
and that radiation levels outside the plant were up to eight times normal levels.
324
Later, a state of emergency was also declared at the
Fukushima Daini
nuclear power plant about 11 km (6.8 mi) south.
325
Experts described the Fukushima disaster was not as bad as the
Chernobyl disaster
, but worse than the
Three Mile Island accident
326
The
discharge of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
was later detected in tap water. Radioactive iodine was detected in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Niigata, and radioactive caesium in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma.
327
328
329
Radioactive caesium, iodine, and strontium
330
were also detected in the soil in some places in Fukushima. There may be a need to replace the contaminated soil.
331
Many radioactive hotspots were found outside the evacuation zone, including Tokyo.
332
Radioactive contamination of food products
were detected in several places in Japan.
333
In 2021, the Japanese cabinet finally approved the
dumping of radioactive water in Fukushima
into the Pacific Ocean over a course of 30 years, with full support of IAEA.
334
To this day, the water is still actively being de-contaminated and is scheduled to be completed by the year 2051.
335
Incidents elsewhere
A fire occurred in the turbine section of the
Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant
following the earthquake.
314
336
The blaze was in a building housing the turbine, which is sited separately from the plant's reactor,
320
and was soon extinguished.
337
The plant was shut down as a precaution.
338
On 13 March the lowest-level state of emergency was declared regarding the Onagawa plant as radioactivity readings temporarily
339
exceeded allowed levels in the area of the plant.
340
341
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.
342
As a result of the 7 April aftershock, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant lost three of four external power lines and lost cooling function for as much as 80 minutes. A spill of a couple of litres of radioactive water occurred at Onagawa.
317
The number 2 reactor at
Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant
was shut down automatically.
313
On 14 March it was reported that a cooling system pump for this reactor had stopped working;
343
however, the Japan Atomic Power Company stated that there was a second operational pump sustaining the cooling systems, but that two of three diesel generators used to power the cooling system were out of order.
344
Transport
A highway bridge damaged and severed
Japan's transport network suffered severe disruptions. Many sections of
Tōhoku Expressway
serving northern Japan were damaged. The expressway did not reopen to general public use until 24 March 2011.
345
346
All railway services were suspended in Tokyo, with an estimated 20,000 people stranded at major stations across the city.
347
In the hours after the earthquake, some train services were resumed.
348
Most Tokyo area train lines resumed full service by the next day—12 March.
349
Twenty thousand stranded visitors spent the night of 11–12 March inside
Tokyo Disneyland
350
A tsunami flooded
Sendai Airport
at 15:55 JST,
144
about one hour after the initial quake, causing severe damage.
Narita
and
Haneda Airport
both briefly suspended operations after the quake, but suffered little damage and reopened within 24 hours.
274
Eleven airliners bound for Narita were diverted to nearby
Yokota Air Base
351
352
Remains of
Shinchi Station
Various train services around Japan were also canceled, with
JR East
suspending all services for the rest of the day.
353
Four trains on coastal lines were reported as being out of contact with operators; one, a four-car train on the
Senseki Line
, was found to have derailed, and its occupants were rescued shortly after 8 am the next morning.
354
Minami-Kesennuma Station
on the
Kesennuma Line
was obliterated save for its platform;
355
62 of 70 (31 of 35) JR East train lines suffered damage to some degree;
270
in the worst-hit areas, 23 stations on 7 lines were washed away, with damage or loss of track in 680 locations and the 30-km radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant unable to be assessed.
356
There were no derailments of
Shinkansen
bullet train services in and out of Tokyo, but their services were also suspended.
274
The
Tokaido 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. Services on
Yamagata Shinkansen
resumed with limited numbers of trains on 31 March.
357
Derailments were minimized because of an
early warning system that detected the earthquake
before it struck. The system automatically stopped all high-speed trains, which minimized the damage.
358
The
Tōhoku Shinkansen
line was worst hit, with JR East estimating that 1,100 sections of the line, varying from collapsed station roofs to bent power pylons, would need repairs. Services on the Tōhoku Shinkansen partially resumed only in Kantō area on 15 March, with one round-trip service per hour between
Tokyo
and
Nasu-Shiobara
359
and Tōhoku area service partially resumed on 22 March between
Morioka
and
Shin-Aomori
360
Services on
Akita Shinkansen
resumed with limited numbers of trains on 18 March.
361
Service between Tokyo and
Shin-Aomori
was restored by May, but at lower speeds due to ongoing restoration work; the pre-earthquake timetable was not reinstated until late September.
362
The rolling blackouts brought on by the crises at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima had a profound effect on the rail networks around Tokyo starting on 14 March. Major railways began running trains at 10–20 minute intervals, rather than the usual 3–5 minute intervals, operating some lines only at rush hour and completely shutting down others; notably, the
Tōkaidō Main Line
Yokosuka Line
Sōbu Main Line
and
Chūō-Sōbu Line
were all stopped for the day.
363
This led to near-paralysis within the capital, with long lines at train stations and many people unable to come to work or get home. Railway operators gradually increased capacity over the next few days, until running at approximately 80% capacity by 17 March and relieving the worst of the passenger congestion.
KiHa 40 series
train washed away uphill from
Onagawa Station
(left) and a damaged utility pole in Ishinomaki (right).
Telecommunications
Cellular and landline phone service suffered major disruptions in the affected area.
364
Immediately after the earthquake cellular communication was jammed across much of Japan due to a surge of network activity. On the day of the quake itself American broadcaster
NPR
was unable to reach anyone in Sendai with a working phone or access to the Internet.
365
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.
366
367
Within Japan, only a few websites were initially unreachable.
368
Several
Wi-Fi
hotspot providers reacted to the quake by providing free access to their networks,
368
and some American telecommunications and
VoIP
companies such as
AT&T
Sprint
Verizon
369
T-Mobile
370
and VoIP companies such as netTALK
371
and
Vonage
372
have offered free calls to (and in some cases, from) Japan for a limited time, as did Germany's
Deutsche Telekom
373
Defense
Matsushima Air Field
of the
Japan Self-Defense Force
in Miyagi Prefecture received a tsunami warning, and the airbase public address 'Tanoy' was used to give the warning: 'A tsunami is coming evacuate to the third floor.' Shortly after the warning the airbase was struck by the tsunami, flooding the base. There was no loss of life, although the tsunami resulted in damage to all 18
Mitsubishi F-2
fighter jets of the 21st Fighter Training Squadron.
374
375
376
Twelve of the aircraft were scrapped, while the remaining six were slated for repair at a cost of 80 billion yen ($1 billion), exceeding the original cost of the aircraft.
377
After the tsunami, elements of the
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
put to sea without orders and started rescuing those who had been washed out to sea. Tsunami plans were for the Japan Self-Defense Forces assets to be led, directed, and coordinated by local civic governments. However, the earthquake destroyed town halls (the seat of local municipal government), police, and fire services in many places, so the military not only had to respond to but also command rescues.
Cultural properties
Damage to a
traditional lantern
at
Tokiwa shrine
in
Mito City
754
cultural properties
were damaged across nineteen prefectures, including five
National Treasures
(at
Zuigan-ji
Ōsaki Hachiman-gū
Shiramizu Amidadō
, and
Seihaku-ji
); 160
Important Cultural Properties
(including at
Sendai Tōshō-gū
, the
Kōdōkan
, and
Entsū-in
, with its
Western decorative motifs
); 144
Monuments of Japan
(including
Matsushima
Takata-matsubara
Yūbikan
, and the
Site of Tagajō
); six
Groups of Traditional Buildings
; and four
Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties
. Stone monuments at the UNESCO
World Heritage Site
Shrines and Temples of Nikkō
were toppled.
378
379
380
In Tokyo, there was damage to
Koishikawa Kōrakuen
Rikugien
Hamarikyū Onshi Teien
, and the walls of
Edo Castle
381
Information on the condition of collections held by museums, libraries and archives is still incomplete.
382
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.
383
Aftermath
Main article:
Aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami included a humanitarian crisis and a major economic impact. The tsunami resulted in over 340,000 displaced people in the Tōhoku region, and shortages of food, water, shelter, medicine, and fuel for survivors. In response, the Japanese government mobilized the Self-Defense Forces (under Joint Task Force – Tōhoku, led by Lieutenant General
Eiji Kimizuka
), while many countries sent search and rescue teams to help search for survivors. Aid organizations in Japan and worldwide responded, with the Japanese Red Cross reporting $1 billion in donations. The economic impact included immediate problems, with industrial production suspended in many factories, and the longer term issue of the cost of rebuilding, which has been estimated at ¥10 trillion ($122 billion). In comparison to the
1995 Great Hanshin earthquake
, the East Japan earthquake brought serious damage to an extremely wide range.
384
The aftermath of the twin disasters left Japan's coastal cities and towns with nearly 25 million
tons
vague
of debris. In Ishinomaki alone, there were 17 trash collection sites 180 meters (590 ft) long and at least 4.5 meters (15 ft) high. An official in the city's government trash disposal department estimated that it would take three years to empty these sites.
385
In April 2015, authorities off the coast of
Oregon
discovered debris that was thought to be from a boat destroyed during the tsunami. The cargo contained
yellowtail amberjack
, a species of fish that lives off the coast of Japan, still alive. KGW estimates that more than 1 million
tons
vague
of debris still remain in the Pacific Ocean.
386
In February 2016, a memorial was inaugurated by two architects for the victims of the disaster, consisting of a 6.5-square-metre (70 sq ft) structure on a hillside between a temple and a cherry tree in
Ishinomaki
387
The reconstruction of the Tohoku coast was funded and piloted by the Japanese government. Structural adaptation to tsunamis was largely based on building higher
seawalls
, although seawalls proved largely ineffective in 2011, and the new seawalls would also not have been high enough.
Emergency vehicles staging in the ruins of
Otsuchi
following the tsunami
Anti-nuclear protest following the disaster
Scientific and research response
Fukushima radiation comparison to other incidents and standards, with graph of recorded radiation levels and specific accident events
(Note: Does not include all radiation readings from Fukushima Daini site.)
Seismologists anticipated a very large quake would strike in the same place as the
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
—in the
Sagami Trough
, southwest of Tokyo.
60
388
The Japanese government had tracked plate movements since 1976 in preparation for the so-called
Tokai earthquake
, predicted to take place in that region.
389
However, occurring as it did 373 km (232 mi) north east of Tokyo, the Tōhoku earthquake came as a surprise to seismologists. While the
Japan Trench
was known for creating large quakes, it had not been expected to generate quakes above an 8.0 magnitude.
388
389
The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion set up by the Japanese government then reassessed the long-term risk of trench-type earthquakes around Japan, and it was announced in November 2011 that research on the
869 Sanriku earthquake
indicated that a similar earthquake with a magnitude of
8.4–9.0 would take place off the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, on average, every 600 years. 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.
390
391
The quake gave scientists the opportunity to collect a large amount of data to model the seismic events that took place in great detail.
65
This data is expected to be used in a variety of ways, providing unprecedented information about how buildings respond to shaking, and other effects.
392
Gravimetric
data from the quake have been used to create a model for
increased warning time
compared to seismic models, as gravity fields travel faster than seismic waves.
393
Researchers have also analysed the economic effects of this earthquake and have developed models of the nationwide propagation via interfirm supply networks of the shock that originated in the Tōhoku region.
394
395
After the full extent of the disaster was known, researchers soon launched a project to gather all digital material relating to the disaster into an online searchable archive to form the basis of future research into the events during and after the disaster. The Japan Disasters Digital Archive is presented in English and Japanese and is hosted at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at
Harvard University
in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
396
Some of the first research to come from the archive was a 2014 paper from the Digital Methods Initiative in Amsterdam about patterns of
usage around the time of the disaster.
After the 2011 disaster, the
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
held its
World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
in Tohoku in March 2015, which produced the
Sendai Framework
document to guide efforts by international development agencies to act before disasters instead of reacting to them after the fact. 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. 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.
The
Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project
, a scientific expedition conducted in 2012–2013, drilled ocean-floor 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 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
397
398
Ecological research
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami had a great environmental impact on Japan's eastern coast. The rarity and magnitude of the earthquake-tsunami prompted researchers
Jotaro Urabe
, Takao Suzuki, Tatsuki Nishita, and Wataru Makino to study their immediate ecological impacts on intertidal flat communities at Sendai Bay and the Sanriku Ria coast. Pre- and post-event surveys show a reduction in animal taxon richness and change in taxon composition mainly attributed to the tsunami and its physical impacts. In particular,
sessile
epibenthic
animals and endobenthic animals both decreased in taxon richness. Mobile epibenthic animals, such as hermit crabs, were not as affected. Post-surveys also recorded taxa that were not previously recorded before, suggesting that tsunamis have the potential to introduce species and change taxon composition and local community structure. The long term ecological impacts at Sendai Bay and the greater east coast of Japan require further study.
399
See also
3.11 and aftermath
Nuclear power in Japan § Seismicity
Seismicity of the Sanriku coast
Health crisis
Humanitarian response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
Ryou-Un Maru
Takashi Shimokawara
Lists of earthquakes and tsunamis
Lists of earthquakes
List of megathrust earthquakes
List of earthquakes in 2011
List of earthquakes in Japan
List of tsunamis
Documentaries and commemoration events
3.11: Surviving Japan
Pray for Japan
Yuzuru Hanyu Notte Stellata
Explanatory notes
lit.
Great earthquake disaster of East Japan
. The Japan Meteorological Agency announced the English name as 'The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku Earthquake'.
14
15
16
NHK
17
18
used
Tōhoku Kantō Great Earthquake disaster
東北関東大震災
Tōhoku Kantō Daishinsai
Tōhoku-Kantō Great earthquake
東北・関東大地震
Tōhoku-Kantō Daijishin
was used by Kyodo News,
19
the Tokyo Shimbun
20
and the Chunichi Shimbun;
21
East Japan Giant earthquake
東日本巨大地震
Higashi Nihon Kyodaijishin
was used by the
Yomiuri Shimbun
22
Nihon Keizai Shimbun
23
and
TV Asahi
24
and
East Japan Great earthquake
東日本大地震
Higashi Nihon Daijishin
was used by
Nippon Television
25
Tokyo FM
26
and TV Asahi.
27
Also known as the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake
28
the
Great Sendai earthquake
29
the
Great Tōhoku earthquake
29
and the
great earthquake of 11 March
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami has been assigned GLIDE identifier EQ-2011-000028-JPN by the Asian Disaster Reduction Center.
89
90
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{{
cite news
}}
: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (
link
平成23年（2011年）東北地方太平洋沖地震（東日本大震災）について（第162報）（令和4年3月8日）
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{{
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(1) 13349.
Bibcode
2016NatCo...713349M
doi
10.1038/ncomms13349
PMC
5121411
PMID
27874858
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(5) e62779.
Bibcode
2013PLoSO...862779U
doi
10.1371/journal.pone.0062779
ISSN
1932-6203
PMC
3641098
PMID
23650529
Further reading
Architectural Institute of Japan, ed. (2012).
Preliminary Reconnaissance Report of the 2011 Tōhoku-Chiho Taiheiyo-Oki Earthquake
. Geotechnical, Geological and Earthquake Engineering. Vol. 23. Springer.
doi
10.1007/978-4-431-54097-7
ISBN
978-4-431-54096-0
Birmingham, Lucy; McNeill, David (2012).
Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 256.
ISBN
978-1-137-05060-1
[Council for Central] Disaster Management,
Cabinet Office
, Government of Japan (March 2015).
Disaster Management in Japan
(in Japanese and English)
Parry, Richard Lloyd
(2017).
Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone
. New York:
MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN
978-0-374-25397-4
McLaughlin, Levi (2013).
"What Have Religious Groups Done After 3.11? Part 1: A Brief Survey of Religious Mobilization after the Great East Japan Earthquake Disasters"
Religion Compass
(8):
294–
308.
doi
10.1111/rec3.12057
McLaughlin, Levi (2013).
"What Have Religious Groups Done After 3.11? Part 2: From Religious Mobilization to 'Spiritual Care'
Religion Compass
(8):
309–
325.
doi
10.1111/rec3.12056
Sources
This article incorporates text from a
free content
work. Licensed under Cc BY-SA 3.0 IGO (
license statement/permission
). Text taken from
Drowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics​
, United Nations Environment Programme.
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Earthquakes in 2011
January
Tirúa, Chile
(7.1, Jan 2)
Balochistan, Pakistan
(7.2, Jan 19)
February
Christchurch, New Zealand
(6.3, Feb 22)
March
Sendai, Japan
(7.2, Mar 9)
Yunnan, China
(5.4, Mar 10)
Tōhoku, Japan (Great East Japan)
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†‡
Sakae, Japan
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Nagano, Japan
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Shan State, Myanmar
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indicates earthquake resulting in at least 30 deaths
indicates the deadliest earthquake of the year
Earthquakes in Japan
Historical
679 Tsukushi
684 Hakuho
869 Jōgan
1026 Manju
1096 Eicho
1293 Kamakura
1361 Shōhei
1498 Meiō
1586 Tenshō
1596 Fushimi
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1855 Edo
1858 Hietsu
1872 Hamada
1889 Kumamoto
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1894 Tokyo
1894 Shōnai
1896 Sanriku
1896 Rikuu
20th century
1909 Anegawa
1911 Kikai Island
1914 Senboku
1922 Shimabara
1923 Great Kantō
1925 North Tajima
1927 North Tango
1930 North Izu
1933 Sanriku
1936 Miyagi
1939 Oga
1940 Shakotan
1941 Hyūga-nada
1943 Tottori
1944 Tōnankai
1945 Mikawa
1946 Nankai
1948 Fukui
1952 Tokachi
1961 North Mino
1963 Kuril Islands
1964 Niigata
1968 Ebino
1968 Hyūga-nada
1968 Tokachi
1973 Nemuro Peninsula
1974 Izu Peninsula
1978 Izu Ōshima
1978 Miyagi
1982 Urakawa
1983 Sea of Japan
1984 Nagano
1993 Kushiro
1993 Okushiri
1994 offshore Sanriku
1995 Kobe
2000 Izu Islands
2000 Tottori
21st century
2001 Geiyo
2003 Miyagi
2003 Tokachi
2004 Chūetsu
2005 Fukuoka
2005 Miyagi
2006 Kuril Islands
2007 Chūetsu
2007 Kuril Islands
2007 Noto
2008 Iwate–Miyagi
2008 Iwate
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2011 Shizuoka
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2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi
2019 Yamagata
2021 Fukushima
2021 Miyagi
2021 Chiba
2022 Fukushima
2023 Noto
2024 Noto
2024 Hyūga-nada
2025 Tokara
2025 Aomori
2026 Sanriku
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