March, 2011, the radars predicted a tremor of a magnitude of 7.0 on the rector scale (). Warnings went out to the people. Chris Oldensin had lived in Japan for thirteen year and tremors like this were a part of every- day life “Earthquakes are a sufficiently common and people don’t concern themselves with them overly. Some of them are so minor that they barely even stir comments; others perk up their ears a little bit, point out the earthquake to the co-workers and get back to work” (Documentary: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 1).
At two forty-five local time, the earthquake hit off the Northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island. With a magnitude of nine, the earthquake was one- hundred more times more powerful than predicted. With this magnitude, it was the largest know earthquake in Japanese history. It was one of the five most powerful ever recorded (Most Powerful Earthquake 1). The amount of energy release, experts believe, is compared to two million times the energy released by the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima (Graham 1). This earthquake was also the longest quake to be recorded. …show more content…
On March 11, 2011, the biggest earthquake in Japanese history took place. The sudden release of pressure caused a six-meter-deep mass of water to move upward toward the surface of the sea. As it collapsed back, immense waves raced across the ocean. These waves were not like normal waves but like shock waves from an explosion. Although these waves were only a meter high, they were one-hundred kilometers front to back, traveling at terrifying speeds. When the tsunami was in deep water the speed was greater, but when the wave got closer to the island the front of it slowed down but the rear remained the same speed. This caused the wave to grow (Most Powerful Earthquake 1). Ten billion tons of water hit the coast. Because of the speed of the tsunami, almost no one had time to evacuate Warning signals were alarmed, however the only warning signal that would have been the most effective would have been the fact that an earthquake of a great magnitude just happened. The area of which the water hit was mostly farmland which caused the water to travel further inland. The billions of dollars used the protect the people and the buildings proved their worth; However, when the tsunami struck, a half hour after the seismic activity stopped, protective barriers did not stand a chance. For example, Miyako had built ten-meter-high walls from their last tsunami, these wall were breeched and proved to be useless. Countless people died. The tsunami was