Tohoku, Japan...
The Earthquake of 2011!!!
The Story
Everything was calm along the coast of Japan. Although a small quake had occurred 2 days before, life pursued rapidly and normally for most people. It was about a quarter till Three and many Japanese men and women were at work. Then, at exactly 2:46:24, it struck. With a Tsunami soon after. As the Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, would soon after state, "In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan." It was, indeed, worse as 15,889 people were reported dead. 6,152 were reported injured, and 2,601 people are missing to this day.
What caused it?
If you'll look at the first picture below then you'll notice the obvious trench East of Japan. Japan itself houses several volcanoes. This indicates a convergent, or colliding, boundary. The middle photo shows how the Pacific plate moved west and collided with the Eurasian (although the picture does not specify the Eurasian plate, only the smaller ones.) and caused the earthquake to occur. When it moved it pushed an entire wave of water toward Japan, and even affected the height of waves all the way in California.
Most Unbelievable footage of Japanese Tsunami I have seen so far (taken from helicopter)
This is a video of the Tsunami recorded by a helicopter. The debris and doom of many can be seen washing the land clean. Not many people had their cameras out for the Earthquake, but the Tsunami can be seen from a hundred eyes. This truly was a disaster, and despite Japan being one of the most-prepared countries for Earthquakes, was something that could not be prevented.
New Video of Japan Tsunami - Ground Level Footage Showing Surge
Sources
Info- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami
Story map- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami
Plate Boundary photos- http://montessorimuddle.org/2011/03/11/plate-tectonics-and-the-earthquake-in-japan/
Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xKMFzKOIfQ
2nd Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t30PTbS4cW8