What type of earthquake hit japan 2011

An aerial view shows Sakae Kato walking Pochi, his dog, which he rescued four years ago, on an empty road between restricted zones in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on February 20, A decade ago, Kato stayed behind to rescue cats abandoned by neighbors who fled the radiation clouds belching from the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.

He won't leave. Sakae Kato lies in bed next to Charm, a cat who he rescued five years ago and infected with feline leukemia virus, at his home in a restricted zone in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on February 20, Kato looks after 41 cats in his home and another empty building on his property. The most recent graves were disturbed by wild boars that roam the depopulated community.

The year-old, a small-construction business owner in his former life, says his decision to stay as , other people evacuated the area was spurred in part by the shock of finding dead pets in abandoned houses he helped demolish. A small wild boar roams in a residential area of Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, on February 26, Hazuki Sato, a Futaba town official, visits a playground where she used to play when she was little, until she was evacuated due to a nuclear scare following the earthquake, in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on February 28, Sato is now preparing for her coming-of-age ceremony, which is typical for Japanese year-olds, hoping for a reunion in town so she can reconnect with her former classmates who have scattered.

In this aerial view from a drone, large swaths of land remain empty after the area that was once a thriving town was destroyed by the tsunami, in Rikuzentakata, Japan, on March 8, A truck drives past a roadside sign on March 8, in Namie, Japan. Radiation-contaminated soil is stored on March 9, , in Minamisoma, Japan.

Mika Sato, 46, who lost her daughter Airi in the earthquake, reacts as she stands in front of a memorial monument built for Airi and her kindergarten classmates in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 1, Mika Sato shows a photo of her daughter Airi, taken in August with her smartphone, in Ishinomaki, on March 1, In this picture taken on February 27, , Reverend Akira Sato, wearing a protective suit, poses outside the empty Fukushima First Bible Baptist Church inside the exclusion zone in Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture—an area declared a no-go zone after the nuclear disaster.

Hisae Unuma wears a protective suit as she walks past an incinerator used to burn debris collected in the Fukushima cleanup, which was built in a rural village near Unuma's home where she lived before being evacuated, in a restricted zone in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on February 23, Unuma said she won't return even if the government scrapes the radioactive soil from her fields.

Radiation levels around her house are around 20 times the background level in Tokyo, according to a dosimeter reading carried out by Reuters. Only the removal of Fukushima's radioactive cores will make her feel safe, a task that will take decades to complete. A bamboo tree grows inside Hisae Unuma's collapsing home, where she lived before being evacuated in , near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, in a restricted zone in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on February 23, As of February , there were still about , evacuees who lost their homes; 50, of them were still living in temporary housing, Japan's Reconstruction Agency said.

More than , buildings were destroyed, , were half-destroyed and , were partially destroyed, the agency said. The unexpected disaster was neither the largest nor the deadliest earthquake and tsunami to strike this century.

That record goes to the Banda Aceh earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra, a magnitude But Japan's one-two punch proved especially devastating for the earthquake-savvy country, because few scientists had predicted the country would experience such a large earthquake and tsunami.

Japan's scientists had forecast a smaller earthquake would strike the northern region of Honshu, the country's main island. Nor did they expect such a large tsunami. But there had been hints of the disaster to come. The areas flooded in closely matched those of a tsunami that hit Sendai in In the decade before the Tohoku earthquake, a handful of Japanese geologists had begun to recognize that a large earthquake and tsunami had struck the northern Honshu region in However, their warnings went unheeded by officials responsible for the country's earthquake hazard assessments.

Now, tsunami experts from around the world have been asked to assess the history of past tsunamis in Japan, to better predict the country's future earthquake risk. Compare the human lives lost in Sumatra and Japan. It's about 10 times less. The Tohoku earthquake struck offshore of Japan, along a subduction zone where two of Earth's tectonic plates collide. In a subduction zone, one plate slides beneath another into the mantle, the hotter layer beneath the crust.

The great plates are rough and stick together, building up energy that is released as earthquakes. East of Japan, the Pacific plate dives beneath the overriding Eurasian plate. The temblor completely released centuries of built up stress between the two tectonic plates, a recent study found.

The March 11 earthquake started on a Friday at p. It was centered on the seafloor 45 miles 72 kilometers east of Tohoku, at a depth of 15 miles 24 km below the surface.

Most tsunamis, like the one that formed off Tohoku, are triggered by underwater tectonic activity , such as earthquakes and volcanic eruption s. The Tohoku tsunami produced waves up to 40 meters feet high,. More than , people became homeless as a result of the tsunami. More than 15, people died. The tsunami also severely cripple d the infrastructure of the country. In addition to the thousands of destroyed homes, businesses, roads, and railways, the tsunami caused the meltdown of three nuclear reactor s at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster released toxic , radioactive materials into the environment and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and businesses. More Dates in History January.

Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. Media If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. Text Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Related Resources. View Collection. Environmental Hazards. Catastrophic Weather Events. MapMaker: Major Earthquakes. View Map. Plate Tectonics and Natural Disasters. View Article.