Japan Earthquake 2011: 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits, 30-Foot Tsunami Triggered
Devastation shown from a tsunami following the Japan earthquake.
Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the
Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada,
Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast. In Japan, the area around a
nuclear power plant in the northeast was evacuated after the reactor's
cooling system failed.
Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal
city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture (state) closest to the
quake's epicenter. Another 88 were confirmed killed and at least 349
were missing. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the
scale of the disaster.
The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (seven-meter)
tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of
them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer)
stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far
away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter. A
large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned
furiously into the night with no apparent hope of the flames being
extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said.
"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.
The government ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power
plant in Onahama city to move back at least two miles (three kilometers)
from the plant. The reactor was not leaking radiation but its core
remained hot even after a shutdown. The plant is 170 miles (270
kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.
Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at either.
Japan's coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers working on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi.
Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific
proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing
everything in its path as it surged several miles (kilometers) inland
before retreating. The apocalyptic images of surging water and
uncontrolled conflagrations broadcast by Japanese TV networks resembled
scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.
Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the
cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping
power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles
were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against
each other.
The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path
inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and
other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably
because of burst gas pipes.
Waves of muddy waters flowed over farmland near Sendai, carrying
buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai
airport was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited
over its runways.
The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were buckled and
communications, including telephone lines, were snapped. Train services
in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million
people a day, were also suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in
stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed
indefinitely.
Jesse Johnson, a native of the U.S. state of Nevada who lives in
Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife
when the quake hit.
"At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I
got myself and my wife under the table," he told The Associated Press.
"I've lived in Japan for 10 years, and I've never felt anything like
this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where
I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake."
NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.
As night fell, the streets were jammed with cars, buses and trucks
trying to get around and out of the city. Pedestrians swarmed the
sidewalks to walk home, or at least find a warm place to spend the night
as the temperatures dropped.
Tomoko Suzuki and her elderly mother stood on a crowded corner in
central Tokyo, unable to get up to their 29th-floor condominium because
the elevator wasn't working. They unsuccessfully tried to hail a taxi to
go to a relative's house. They called around to dozens of hotels, but
they were full.
"We are so cold," said Suzuki. "We really don't know what to do."
A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in
Chiba prefecture and burned out of control with 100-foot (30 meter)
-high flames whipping into the sky.
"Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been
enormous damage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. "We will
make maximum relief effort based on that assessment."
He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the quake-hit
region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.
Also in Miyagi, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear
power plant, but it was later extinguished, said Tohoku Electric Power
Co. the company said.
A reactor area of a nearby plant was leaking water, the company said.
But it was unclear if the leak was caused by tsunami water or something
else. There were no reports of radioactive leaks at any of Japan's
nuclear plants.
Jefferies International Limited, a global investment banking group, said it estimated overall losses to be about $10 billion.
Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in northern Iwate
prefecture, said officials were having trouble getting an overall
picture of the destruction.
"We don't even know the extent of damage. Roads were badly damaged
and cut off as tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things,"
he said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude
8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping
records in the late 1800s, and one of the biggest ever recorded in the
world.
The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80
miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area
is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Several quakes had hit
the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on
Wednesday that caused no damage.
A tsunami warning was extended to a number of areas in the Pacific,
Southeast Asian and Latin American nations, including Japan, Russia,
Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities
ordered an evacuation of coastal communities, but no unusual waves were
reported.
Thousands of people fled their homes in Indonesia after officials
warned of a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) high. But waves of only 4
inches (10 centimeters) were measured. No big waves came to the Northern
Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, either.
The first waves hit Hawaii about 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) Friday. A
tsunami at least 3 feet (a meter) high were recorded on Oahu and Kauai,
and officials warned that the waves would continue and could become
larger.
Japan's worst previous quake was in 1923 in Kanto, an 8.3-magnitude
temblor that killed 143,000 people, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude
quake in Kobe city in 1996 killed 6,400 people.
Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic
zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the
world's quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26,
2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12
nations. A magnitude-8.8 temblor that shook central Chile last February
also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people.