EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI IN JAPAN

On Friday 11 March 2011 at 14:46 in the Pacific coast of Thoku a powerful earthquake (9,0 Richter) struck which is also called Great East Japan earthquake or 2011 Tohoku earthquake. This earthquake was devastating and caused damage on the northeastern Japan. It covered approximately 70 kilometres. As it is said, it was the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world. It was followed by powerful tsunami waves in Miyako, Iwate and Tōhoku that reached up to 40,5 m. The tsunami proved to be unimaginably more harmful and catastrophic than the earthquake and also reached 20 kilometers in the land.  It swept houses, ships, automobiles and buildings. From the earthquake, there have been 15.365 victims, 5.363 injured people and 8.206  missing.

A 16-year-old swimmer was caught in the tsunami and tried to survive. She fought with the waves and she accomplished it. She swept into a storeroom. A friend of her tried to hold her to haul her in somewhere safe but she couldn't react to the current. She managed to survive when she got trapped in an air pocket in a building. She lost many of her friends and always thinks of them. Many survivors lose people they love and surely it is a depressing event for many people.

There are some videos that illustrate the way the disaster happened and we can see that many factories erupted and the area was covered by a fire cloud. The air was polluted to a great extent and water covered a large part of the land. Many people lost their houses and businesses but the most important thing is that so many people lost their lives while they were trying to survive the tsunami.

Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc4sQT_2GGE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14853511
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami#Geology