1933 Sanriku Earthquake damage at Kamaishi 01

The occurred on the

Sanriku coast The is a coastal region on the Pacific Ocean, extending from southern Aomori Prefecture, through Iwate Prefecture and northern Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Honshū, which is Japan's main island. The name comes from the historical region of S ...

of the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on March 2 with a

moment magnitude 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 ...

of 8.4. The associated

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 ...

caused widespread devastation.

Earthquake

The epicenter was located offshore, east of the city of

Kamaishi, Iwate is a city located on the Sanriku rias coast in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 32,609, and a population density of 74 persons per km2, in 16,230 households. The total area of the city is Geography Kamaishi i ...

. The main shock occurred at 02:31 AM local time on March 3, 1933 (17:31 UTC March 2, 1933) and measured 8.4 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 ...

. It was in approximately the same location as the 1896 Sanriku earthquake and it occurred far enough away from the town that shaking did little damage. Approximately three hours after the main shock there was a magnitude 6.8

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousand ...

, followed by 76 more aftershocks (with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater) over a period of six months. This was an intraplate event that occurred within the

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...

, and the focal mechanism showed normal faulting.

Damage

Although little damage was produced from the shock, the

, which was recorded to reach the height of at Ōfunato, Iwate, caused extensive damage, and destroyed many homes and caused numerous casualties. The tsunami destroyed over 7,000 homes along the northern Japanese coastline, of which over 4,885 were washed away. The tsunami was also recorded in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

with a height of , and also resulted in slight damage. The death toll came to 1,522 people confirmed dead, 1,542 missing, and 12,053 injured. Hardest hit was the town of

Tarō, Iwate was a town located in Shimohei District, Iwate Prefecture in Japan. Today it is part of the city of Miyako. History The village of Tarō was created on April 1, 1889, within Higashihei District with the establishment of the municipality system ...

(now part of Miyako city), with 98% of its houses destroyed and 42% of its population killed.Corkill, Edan,
Heights of survival
, ''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', 12 June 2011, pp. 9–10.

Notes

External links

Historic video footage of devastation following 1933 Sanriku Earthquake
* {{Earthquakes in Japan

Sanriku , sometimes known as , lies on the northeastern side of the island of Honshu, corresponding to today's Aomori, Iwate and parts of Miyagi Prefecture and has a long history. The 36 bays of this irregular coastline tend to amplify the destructivenes ...

March 1933 events 1930s tsunamis Earthquakes in the Empire of Japan Tsunamis in Japan Earthquakes of the Showa period 1933 disasters in Japan

Earthquake

Damage

See also

Notes

External links