2011 Tsunami Recap: When 40-Metre Waves Crashed Into Japan Coasts

A powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula early Wednesday, unleashing tsunami waves up to four metres high and leading to evacuation alerts across the Pacific.

The quake, one of the strongest globally in recent years, damaged buildings, including a kindergarten, and shook several parts of eastern Russia. "Today's earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors," Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said.

Tsunami waves hit Severo-Kurilsk in the Kuril Islands, with water levels rising up to 4 metres. Japan's Meteorological Agency reported a 30 cm wave in Nemuro, Hokkaido.

Warnings extended to Alaska, Hawaii, Chile, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, and Ecuador, where 3-metre waves were possible.

The epicentre was located 119 km from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 180,000 residents.

While the full extent of damage is still being assessed, the event has revived memories of a deadlier and costlier catastrophe over a decade ago.

2011 Japan Earthquake And Tsunami

On March 11, 2011, a 9.1 magnitude undersea earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan's Honshu Island, generating a massive tsunami within 30 minutes. The quake originated along the Japan Trench, a subduction zone where the Pacific Plate plunges beneath the Okhotsk microplate.

The rupture extended roughly 300 km long and 150 km wide, shifting the sea floor up to 50 metres. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan and the fourth-strongest worldwide since 1900.

It shook the entire country, and the tremors reached as far as Russia, Taiwan, and China. Hundreds of aftershocks followed, some over magnitude 7.0.

Within 30 minutes, waves towering up to 40 meters crashed into Japan's northeastern coast. Coastal defences were overwhelmed. Water surged up to 10 km inland in places like Sendai and Iwate. The tsunami destroyed cities, airports, ports, and communities.

More than 123,000 homes were completely destroyed, and over a million were damaged. Ninety-eight per cent of the physical damage was caused by the tsunami rather than the earthquake.

The tsunami also disabled the cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Three reactors overheated and suffered core meltdowns in the following days. Explosions and radiation leaks led to a 20-km evacuation zone, affecting tens of thousands of residents. The event was classified as a Level 7 nuclear disaster, the highest possible, on par with Chernobyl.

By 2021, the confirmed death count stood at 15,899, with 2,526 still missing and presumed dead. Over 6,000 people were injured. Most of the casualties were elderly residents caught in the tsunami. Miyagi Prefecture (province) bore the highest human loss.

The 2011 Japan disaster remains the most expensive natural catastrophe on record, with damages exceeding $220 billion. It also led to major upgrades in tsunami warning systems globally.