The 1952 Tokachi earthquake (), occurred at on 4 March in the sea near

Tokachi District, Hokkaidō is a district located in Tokachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of 2004, the district has an estimated population of 6,342 and a density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. ...

, Japan. It had a magnitude of 8.1 on the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

Damage

There was

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

and

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

damage in an area ranging from Hokkaido to the northern part of the Tohoku region. As a result, 28 people were killed, five were missing, and 287 were wounded. In addition, 815 houses were completely destroyed, 1324 half-damaged, and 6395 partially damaged. Ninety-one houses were swept away, 328 suffered flooding, 20 were lost to fire, and 1621 became uninhabitable. Furthermore, 451 ships were damaged. In Hamanaka, in the

Akkeshi District, Hokkaidō is a district in eastern Kushiro Subprefecture, Hokkaidō, Japan. Towns *Akkeshi is a town located in Kushiro Subprefecture, Hokkaido. As of July 31, 2021, it has a population of 8,922, and an area of 734.82 km2. Lake Akkeshi is a ...

, a tsunami destroyed numerous homes. It is thought that

drift ice Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...

was pushed up by the tsunami and exacerbated the damage. Eight years later, this area was devastated by the tsunami caused by the 1960 Chile earthquake, killing 11 people. Akkeshi Bay saw the highest tsunami surge, of , with

Hachinohe is a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 221,459, and a population density of 725 persons per km2 in 96,092 households, making it Aomori Prefecture's second largest city by population. The city h ...

Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total area of ...

also seeing a wave. This was the first large tsunami after the inception of Japan's

tsunami warning system A tsunami warning system (TWS) is used to detect tsunamis in advance and issue the warnings to prevent loss of life and damage to property. It is made up of two equally important components: a network of sensors to detect tsunamis and a communica ...

. The previous day, March 3, was the anniversary of the

1933 Sanriku earthquake The occurred on the Sanriku coast of the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan on March 2 with a moment magnitude of 8.4. The associated tsunami caused widespread devastation. Earthquake The epicenter was located offshore, east of the city of Kama ...

, and the large number of training and evacuation drills held that day bolstered the response to the real disaster on March 4.

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External links

* {{Earthquakes in Japan 1950s tsunamis Earthquakes of the Showa period Megathrust earthquakes in Japan 1952 earthquakes 1952 in Japan History of Hokkaido March 1952 events in Asia 1952 disasters in Japan

Damage

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