Japans Earthquake 2011 9.0 Magnitude | Tsunami | Disaster

Japans Earthquake 2011 9.0 Magnitude | Tsunami | Disaster The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku (東北地方太平洋沖地震Tōhoku-chihō Taiheiyō Oki Jishin?), also known as the2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicentre approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku and the hypocentre at an underwater depth of approximately 32 km (20 mi). It was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and one of the five world since modern record-keeping began in 1900. The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture, and which, in the Sendai area, travelled up to 10 km (6 mi) inland. The earthquake moved Honshu 2.4 m (8 ft) east and shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 cm (4 in) and 25 cm (10 in). The tsunami caused a number of nuclear accidents, primarily the on going level 7 meltdowns at three reactors in the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant complex, and the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. Many electrical generators were taken down, and at least three nuclear reactors suffered explosions due to hydrogen gas that had built up within their outer containment buildings after cooling system failure. Residents within a 20 km (12 ...

View Count: 338 Date: January 28, 2012