Japan Earthquake 2011
On March 11 2011 a massive earthquake shook Japan.
Basic information.
On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 pm local time, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake ruptured a 500-kilometre-long fault zone off the north-east coast of Japan. Its epicentre was 130 kilometres off Sendai and Honshu. it occurred at a pretty shallow depth of 32 kilometres. The earthquake violently shook north-east Honshu for six minutes, and collapsed its coastline by one meter. The thrusting moved Honshu about 2.4 meters eastward, and the seismic waves on the Pacific Ocean floor set off tsunami waves travelling at the speed of a jet plane (about 700 kilometres per hour). Waves 3 to 38 meters tall pounded Honshu’s coastline, destroying towns and villages and flooding areas up to 10 kilometres inland. Tsunami waves also swept across the Pacific, causing damage or disruptions in Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.