Patrick Maloney, Elena Sava,

and Laura McDonald

Tsunamis in Japan

The island nation of Japan is located on the edge of a multitude of tectonic
plates. The southern half of the nation of Japan is located on the eastern edge of the
Eurasian plate while the northern half is situated on the North American plate. To
the West of each of these sit both the Pacific and Philippine plates. Both the
Philippine and Pacific plates of are moving westward, as they subduct beneath the
Eurasian plate and North American plates respectively.
1
The seismic activity of
these plates, coupled with volcanic activity from subduction zones have caused
multiple tsunamis that have produced a large number of casualties.

Major and Recent Tsunamis
The tsunami on March 11
th
2011 was the most recent Tsunami in Japan.
Triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck off the shore of Honshu, Japan,
this earthquake was the strongest to ever hit Japan in recorded history. The
earrthquake shook the ground around 2:46 PM and shortly after resulted in the
creation of a destructive tsunami. The highest run-up in the ocean was measured
38.9 meters in height.
2
The highest tsunami height was 7.3 meters at Soma.
Following these maximums, there were heights of 4.2 and 4.1 in Oarai and Kamaishi
Japan.
3
The tsunami was a devastating disaster that caused 15,826 deaths, 5,942

1
http://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2011/03/11/super-quake-spawns-
massive-tsunami-in-japan/
2
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsunami/pdf/2011_0311.pdf
3
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49621
injuries, and 3,810 people to go missing.
4
The tsunami not only caused homes and
buildings to be swept away, but it also took away entire towns.
There were tsunami seawalls that were supposed to nullify tsunami
situations, but no one predicted that a tsunami of such size and force would hit such
a populated area and the walls were rendered useless. The tsunami caused nuclear
power plants to be shut down. One shut down led to a meltdown and caused the
reactors to explode and catch on fire. This caused millions of people to be without
power and radiation to be spilled into the atmosphere and seas of Japan.
Additionally, there was a huge economic impact for Japan and the countries they
trade with. The cost of the damage was estimated to be $300 billion dollars.
5
People
around the world are still trying to clean up from the disaster. As a result, March
11
th
2011 will be a day never forgotten in Japans history.

Before and After tsunami photo of Arahama Beach, Sendai, Japan.
6


4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami
5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake
_and_tsunami
6
http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/news/sendai.html

Destruction from the tsunamis
7
Propagation of waves from the earthquake.
8




The Mount Unzen volcanic eruption of 1792 caused a landslide, which
brought about a destructive tsunami. The volcano is located on the island of Kyushu
which is approximately 40 km East of Nagasaki. About a month after the eruption of
the volcano, Mount Mayuyama collapsed creating a landslide that cascaded into the
Ariake Sea at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour. The landslide debris displaced a
vast amount of water in the sea causing a megatsunami. A megatsunami is a
tsunami that has much larger wave heights then normal tsunamis and usually
originates from landslides or impact events.
9
This tsunami reached 100 meters
high. It was quite detrimental, killing about 15,000 people
.10


7
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/galleries/earthquake_tsunami_strike_j
apan/earthquake_tsunami_strike_japan.html
8
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/honshu20110311/Energy_plot20110311-1000.png
9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatsunami
10
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Japan/description_unzen.html

Picture of the aftermath of the landslide
11


The Sagami Gulf is located South of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, and is
approximately 40 km southwest of Tokyo. In 1923, the Sagami Gulf earthquake caused
over 99,000 deaths and generated a tsunami that caused over 2,000 deaths. With a height
of 39.5 feet, the tsunami reached the gulf of Sagami and destroyed over 155 houses and
killed 60 people. This left about 1.9 million people homeless, while others had to
evacuate on a ship that transported them as far away as the port of Kobe. The earthquake
was strong enough to be felt in Los Angeles and Coos Bay, Oregon. The damages are
estimated to have exceeded one billion U.S. dollars at present day value.
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Wave Propogation

11
http://www.peepat.com/blog/top_ten/top_10_deadliest_volcanic_eruptions_of_th
e_world.aspx
12
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1421140/Tokyo-Yokohama-
earthquake-of-1923