The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami has been assigned GLIDE identifier EQ-2011-000028-JPN by the Asian Disaster Reduction Center. 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. 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. 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. This mini lesson provides an example of how stratigraphy influences tectonics, and vice versa. 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. As of the end of May 2011, residents of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures had requested deregistration of 15,000 vehicles, meaning that the owners of those vehicles were writing them off as unrepairable or unsalvageable. All donations are tax deductible in full or in part. Earth Science Class Project. [188] 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. [141] Wakabayashi Ward in Sendai was also particularly hard hit. Earthquake data for the 2011 Tohoku event According to the USGS (2011), the 2011 Tohoku earthquake resulted from thrust faulting on or near the subduction zone plate boundary between the Pacific and North America plates. [345], Derailments were minimized because of an early warning system that detected the earthquake before it struck. It was a large ocean-type reverse fault earthquake occurring at a plate boundary with a west-northwest to east-southeast compression axis. On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. local time, the Great East Japan Earthquake with moment magnitude 9.0 generated a tsunami of unprecedented height and spatial extent along the northeast coast of the main island of Honshu. How can I help people affected by disasters? The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami was a 9.0-magnitude earthquake followed by tsunami waves. How videos can drive stronger virtual sales; April 9, 2021 With damage to so many power plants, it was feared it might be years before a long-term solution could be found. Researchers soon after the full extent of the disaster was known 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. Support for education included supplies, temporary classrooms, and hot meals, Community kitchens were furnished for evacuation centers, Child development and protection services, including psychosocial training for teachers and Child-Friendly Spaces, Emergency power, storage, and borehole wells for schools serving as evacuation centers, Community development focused on senior citizens, including furnishing meeting spaces and activities, Child-focused disaster preparedness activities, Assistance to Fukushima evacuees, including summer camp for children, Scholarships for children from worst-affected areas. Seismic stations in Iwate, Gunma, Saitama and Chiba Prefecture measured a lower 6, recording an upper 5 in Tokyo. At the latitude of this earthquake, the Pacific plate moves [211] These indirect casualties have already resulted in more deaths than the number of people killed directly by earthquake and tsunami within the Fukushima prefecture. As the waves travel inland, they pile up higher and higher walls of water. 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. "Spatial distribution and focal mechanisms of aftershocks of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku Earthquake" by Y. Asano, T. Saito, Y. Ito, K. Shiomi, H. Hirose, T. Matsumoto, S. Aoi, S. Hori, and S. Sekiguchi. 2011: A cabinet-level reconstruction agency was formed. 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. Both waves were felt around the world, but the Indian Ocean tsunami caused deaths and significant damage not only in Indonesia, but in India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, too. [162] 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. [243] The earthquake and tsunami created an estimated 24–25 million tons of rubble and debris in Japan. [369] Information on the condition of collections held by museums, libraries and archives is still incomplete. KGW estimates that more than 1 million tons of debris still remain in the Pacific Ocean. The earthquake, and the resulting destructive tsunami, caused more than 5,000 casualties. [376][377] The Headquarters For Earthquake Research Promotion set up by 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 Mw 8.4–9.0 would take place off the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, on average, every 600 years. With virtually no warning in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 167,000 people died during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. In the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, the maximum run-up height was 40.1 m at Ofunato, and in this ria coastal region, there was catastrophic destruction of towns and cities (latitude 38° to These estimated TEC data are not interpolations and GIMs are used only for observation. If harnessed, the seismic energy from this earthquake would power a city the size of Los Angeles for an entire year. In the decade before the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, a handful of Japanese geologists had begun to recognize that a large earthquake and tsunami had struck the northern Honshu region in 869. 209 ], on February 13, 2021, a magnitude 7.1–7.3 earthquake struck off the coast of closest. [ 301 ] Higashidōri, also on the Japan Reconstruction Agency 41 mi in... Question are now more susceptible to flooding during high tides feared it might be years before a long-term could... 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