Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami March 11, 2011 Pacific Coast of Japan

The earthquake started at 2:46 p. m. local time The earthquake started at 2:46 p.m. local time. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the ocean 72 km east of Tohoku and the focus depth was 24 km below the surface. The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.0 and people say that it traveled 500 mph in the ocean.

They didn’t expect the earthquake to be too big and definitely didn’t expect a tsunami. The Japanese received a warning 1 minute before the earthquake, they received text alerts, stopped trains and because of that they saved many lives. It lasted 6 minutes.

Some of the areas where the tsunami hit were very populated which caused 16273 dead which out of that number 14,308 died drowning. There where 3,061 missing, and 27,074 injured. There where around 230,000 homes lost

The effects where felt all over the world including Antarctica and Norway. Two years after the earthquake and tsunami, debris was still washing up on North American beaches. Total damages are estimated to be around $300 Billion Dollars. Now Japan has upgraded warning systems so this doesn’t happen again.

Map of Event This event happened in Japan. The picture in the right shows the map of world and where it was located. The picture in the left is a closer look of japan and exactly where it happened and how strong it was in some areas.

Map with plates This is a map of Japan and the plates that are around. The plates that go through Japan are the Eurasian plate, the Okhotsk plate, the Pacific plate, and the Philippine Sea plate. The purple heart marks the epicenter of the earthquake.

Pt Diagram

Other Places where this could happen Tsunamis and earthquakes can happen in many places around the world, but these are two examples of where it has happened. The one in the left was in Chile and the one on the right was in Sumatra Island. The Sumatra Island earthquake and tsunami killed 230,000 people and in the Chile one only over 800 died.