The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Devastating Tsunami

At 14:46 on March 11, 2011, the magnitude-9.0 earthquake attacked Sendai and neighboring cities distributed along the northeast coast of Honshu Island, Japan. Its epicenter is located 130 km east of Sendai (Fig. 1). Unfortunate ly, the strong earthquake generated devastating tsunamis that destroyed many towns and villages near the seashore in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures. The natural catastrophe was followed by the secondary disaster, nuclear radiation from damaged reactors in Fukushima. As a witness of this natural catastrophe, I report the severity of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and the tragic consequences of the killer tsunami. The Japan Meteorological Agency named this earthquake ‟The 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake,” but mass media also named ‟The Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake” or ‟The East Japan Great Earthquake.” For simplicity, here, I use the name, the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. First of all, I express my heartfelt condolences to family members of the victims of the catastrophe. I also express my profound sympathy for people who lost their homes and communities by the earthquake and following tsunamis.