2011 Japan Earthquake & Tsunami

Wow, thank you, OP, great video. I cannot even imagine having been present during the earthquake. Very powerful and scary.

Manny! Manny! Manny!

Damn. I've never seen this footage before--really terrifying and I say this having lived through Loma Prieta. This one went on and on and then the tsunami.

Props to Japanese engineers and building codes. Not even the windows cracked.

They probably thought it was Godzilla.

OMG. I've seen other footage of tsunamis before, but this is horrific.

As an aside to Californians and other Pacific Rim people if present: I don't live in an earthquake zone, but I'm wondering what you do for safety during earthquakes. I could look up recommendations, I know, but I want to know what people actually do. I was a little surprised that people weren't under the tables in OP's video. I know anything can crush you, but at least a table would protect you from falling light fixtures (for example).

The first thing to do is look for something to get under, like a good strong table, just in case the ceiling falls. Then just wait it out.

Thank you. I thought I also remembered hearing that you're not supposed to run outside, but stand in a doorway. Do people do that?

The tsunami didn't have far to travel as the airport is only about a mile from the shore.

[quote] Do people do that?

Don't know about door frames, but getting underneath something sturdy is the #1 move to make.

I lived in Japan in the 90s and early 00s and you get under a table or something-- never run outside because falling electrical wires can hurt you. The real danger in a lot of earthquakes are fires that start after the shaking ends. Tsunami warnings are frequently issued but obviously tsunamis like that are rare. A freaky thing I noticed in a couple of earthquakes was this roaring/whooshing noise from the mountains. I don't know if it's an echo or what. I will never forget that noise.

When Loma Prieta hit, I and my fellow native Californians got under our desks, though I know one who got in a doorway and wished he'd gotten under a desk. Windows can shatter and things can fall, so under something strong is the way to go.

That said, all the non-natives went running out of the building. Which was stupid since there was tons of flying glass and falling live power lines. When I did get outside, I saw a transformer blow up across the street.

Basically, we natives had lots of earthquake drills so we did what we'd been told to do as kids. People who didn't have that freaked.

Seriously, though, the main thing you want is to be someplace with decent, enforced building codes. The big earthquake disasters are generally less about the shaking and more about unreinforced brick crumbling on top of people. Stay out of garages, they don't have the same building codes and several have pancaked in quakes.

The doorway thing isn’t recommended anymore; if inside get under a table, anything to protect your head, in particular. If outside, try to get clear of any buildings so you don’t get hit by debris. If you’re in a city and can’t do that, plaster yourself against the side of a building to protect yourself as much as possible.

I thought the food on the table was gonna make it, but alas it ended up on the floor.

r13, that's why I always come prepared with an earthquake-proof snack purse.

I've seen your snack purse Chrissy. A 5 gallon Yeti cooler is hardly a snack for you. You need to up your game to a 10 gallon.

R8 a mile inland is a long way for a wave to travel . . . made me think of the runways at SFO which are on the Bay. That said, there's something about the geography of the bay and the mountains that make tsunamis a non-issue.

I lived in Japan for a while. Earthquakes (smaller ones) happen regularly.

Japan has it all -- earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes.

Here’s a globe showing the tectonic plates in the western pacific. See how one edge of a plate runs right along the coast of Japan?

Most of you know this already, but earthquakes happen when one of those plates slips under another — the friction is released as kinetic energy.

Imagine how small you are on that globe compared to those tectonic plates. Like a microbe. Even smaller — like a molecule.

R10 scary, I’m glad you stayed safe.

[quote] They probably thought it was Godzilla.

Actually, I thought it was the rebirth of Mothra.

I'm more terrified by the earthquake footage.

That lasted unbelievably long, and it's as if the earth wouldn't stop shaking.

I think I would have passed out from fear.

I would’ve been screaming bloody murder, shrieking like that one Queen after princess Diana died. I don’t know how they managed to stay so calm.

It started so subtlely. It looks like the river lost water, then it crept back in faster and faster. Up til the minute it breached the wall, people were in the streets.

I would have shit myself then passed out. And I thought hurricanes were a bitch !

Everyone on the Pacific Northwest coast is petrified of this because there's a fault off the Washington/Oregon coast that's virtually identical to the one off the Japanese coast that caused this. It's going to happen here sooner or later.

Except that we don't have Japanese engineers in the Northwest and none of our buildings are built to withstand any earthquake, let alone several minutes of shaking. But it's one reason why I would never live on the Oregon coast.

R19 I find the need for you to explain tectonics to me exhausting.

Props to the guy filming. Nerves of steel. Even got back up and continued when he was knocked to the ground by the ferocity of the shaking.

So in other words r25 just like any other day for you.

I remember it well. I was in Seattle on business and watching TV at 9:50 when they interrupted the broadcast, announced the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. I immediately phoned a friend of mine who is a Japanese national working in the US. She tried to get reports out of Japan on her computer, but their systems were down temporarily, so she turned on the TV to watch the coverage. It's easy to see in these videos how 20,000 or so people were killed. The water came in so fast, and overtopped many seawalls that were supposed to protect against tsunamis, but they never dreamed the water would be 2-3 stories in height.

Holy shit @ r24. The sheer amount and size - entire buildings! 18 wheelers! -- of debris swept in like so much flotsam is mid-boggling. And in the video, you only see the flood tide coming in, not going out again where it also did more damage.

My takeaway is: fuck a beach house, I'm going to live on a clifftop.

Also what r3 said: it speaks to Japanese building codes (and the adherence to them!) that despite a 9.0 earthquake, there was practically NO structural damage from the quake itself: things were falling off the walls and tables, but not even the glass construction at the airport cracked. All the destruction (including Fukushima) was from the tsunami.

Weirdly, YouTube recommended this exact video to me about 10 days ago, I wonder why it's been getting attention again lately?

The footage at R24 is obviously real, but that thumbnail the uploader put on the video is so fake. With all the horrible footage in the video the uploader would have had plenty of shots that could have been used as a thumbnail. But as so often happens with YouTubers they resort to fakery to grab people's attention.

Just a heavy flow day.

What were the geysers spouting up when it flooded?

I thought maybe the tsunami dislodged fire hydrants.

The safest place to stand during an earthquake is underneath a palm tree with lots of coconuts.

I was actually in Japan that day flying home from Hong Kong changing planes at Narita scheduled to land at 3:45 pm local time which is when the earthquake hit. After we circled for 30 minutes, the pilot announced that “a major earthquake has hit the Tokyo area. Both airports have been evacuated and the runways have been damaged. We are waiting for instructions on whether to return to Hong Kong or divert to another airport. “ As we didn’t have enough fuel to return to HK, we diverted to Nagoya. Spent the night sleeping in the airport floor but even at that distance, could still feel the aftershocks all night. Didn’t hear about the tsunami until the next day but I recall that while we circled, we noticed that many boats were headed out to sea do they wouldn’t be on shore when it hit.

[quote]The big earthquake disasters are generally less about the shaking and more about unreinforced brick crumbling on top of people.

Like poor Victoria Principal in that movie.

R24: on top of the steady rise of flood water and debris in that river town in the video, watching that ever-growing fire at the end was gut-wrenching.

Even more frightening.

The ocean water was so dark that day.

The only country in the world to withstand a nuclear attack and then Mother Nature throws them a devastating earthquake and tsunami every now and then.

Japan has seen some shit!

Yes, the people of Japan seem very stoic. They also don't bitch about expensive infrastructure costs (to prevent fatalities and damage in an earthquake). They seem more willing to think of the long game, not bitch about taxes used for overall public welfare.

Where's Ava Gardner?

She couldn't hide under a BIG Cadillac in Japan during the earthquake.

[quote]never run outside because falling electrical wires can hurt you.

An airport runway is the perfect place to run on to.

That's because solidarity (to the point of stultifying conformism) is Japan's cultural brand, r44. Everything is "us", not "me". That's what made both their all-out to-the-last-breath war effort in WWII and their rapid postwar rebuilding possible, and it's also what keeps anyone who's not 100% ethnically and culturally Japanese from being fully accepted.

Social altruism comes much more easily in a monolithic society. As a zoological analogy, think of ants.

Yes, R47, I agree. I lived in Japan for a while. There's a lot to admire, but "stultifying conformism" is a good way to describe the downside of the culture.

When I got my first "paycheck" there, they gave me a wad of cash and I was like: WTF? I'm gonna walk home like this now? Yes, I did walk home (plus train) with a wad of cash and did that every month. (IIRC, I was paid monthly.)

Point is: it's pretty safe there and you don't have to worry about some asshole mugging you on the way home.

The thing about the 2011 earthquake is that it was unprecedented in its power--faults kind of top out and it was thought that Japan couldn't have one as powerful as that. The Fukushima reactor was built to withstand one in the 8s, but no one thought there'd be a 9.1. Which makes the number of buildings that withstood it all the more impressive.

The San Andreas, for example, is thought to top out at 8.3.

The really scary state for earthquakes is Alaska--the Good Friday earthquake in 1964 was a 9.2 and they had an offshore 8.2 in July this year.

The best Japan earthquake footage is the one where the workers are trying to protect the bottles of expensive wine/liquor from falling. The wine must be protected at all costs!

The eatery in OP's link is still in business at the Sendai Airport, it's called Jushoan. Amazing that the airport and its structures survived so much damage, being so close to the quake epicenter.

Someone upthread mentioned the airport is a mile inland from the coast; it's more like an eighth of a mile, it's literally a walk to the water (see Google maps).

Still rebuilding after 10 years

I can't believe this was already 10 years ago.

[quote] That's because solidarity (to the point of stultifying conformism) is Japan's cultural brand, [R44]. Everything is "us", not "me". That's what made both their all-out to-the-last-breath war effort in WWII and their rapid postwar rebuilding possible, and it's also what keeps anyone who's not 100% ethnically and culturally Japanese from being fully accepted.

That's all wishful thinking. Japan rebuilt after the war so quickly because the US made a deal with the former fascists in charge to prop up Japan as a bulwark against the Soviets. We helped Japan rebuild by via technology transfers and other such economic policies. It was in our strategic interest. The ruling party stays in control because it's made a deal with a small but powerful class of farmers and big business so it's able to get its way.

And while the buildings didn't fall down, refugees fleeing Fukushima were shunned in other parts of the country out of an ignorant fear of nuclear contamination (just like after Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The cleanup was performed by indebted men and homeless people whom no one would miss. And TEPCO created the nuclear disaster by skirting regulations.

The real Japan has tons of problems as profound as any other modern country. They are hidden to the West because Americans like holding Japan up as a foil for understanding what's supposedly wrong with us.

It's been even longer but the Boxer Day Tsunami in Thailand was very sad. I had been there the previous year.

Horrifying

As if the earthquake wasn't horrifying enough, the tsunami afterwards was truly terrifying. A nightmare situation.

R57, and if the earthquake and tsunami weren't enough, there was the Fukushima nuclear disaster to contend with.

Holy shit, I was in New Zealand for the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, but that footage is scary as fuck. It just went on and on. I hate earthquakes so damn much. They seem to happen at least once a fortnight here.

There's always that waiting for the escalation after the first rattle...will it get worse or do I stay in bed?

[quote]That's because solidarity (to the point of stultifying conformism) is Japan's cultural brand

This also accounts for why Japan has not been as hard struck by Covid-19 as other parts of the world.

Japan has a more civilized viewpoint. They are more about for the greater good than for individual freedom...like in the US. Even way before Covid, a lot of the Japanese wore masks. It was common and out of courtesy for other people, to not spread illness. Looking at these videos, I'm astounded in how large ships, car and homes were crushed and swept away so easily...like plastic toys in a bathtub. The wall of encroaching water reminded of the movie, The Blob...the way moved in and devoured everything. The power of Nature can never be underestimated. Terrifying...

I am. What I am. Because of you.

Translation of the Japanese characters carved in wood pillars at the entrance to a Japanese museum in the US.

I would hate to be at that airport waiting area. Knowing full well that my flight will be cancelled.

[quote]I can't believe this was already 10 years ago.

When America's Next Top Model was still a hit.

R46...Unless a tsunami comes, which is what happened in that video...maybe not a good idea. The mountains surrounding the villages or towns are the best escape. It looks like high points were built for access for a tsunami. The homes in the hills were spared.

R65 There was actually one town that had an ancient marker that designated the high water mark from a much earlier tsunami. It worked for the Fukushima tsunami as well.

Have these coastal towns been repopulated?

R67, yes, but not like they were before. Some people have lived in temporary shelters for years.

Watching the entire town being consumed by the tsunami in R41’s video was absolutely horrifying.

Japan is fucking hardcore. This explains why they don't fear China.

Earthquake is really the most terrifying of all the natural disasters. There is no warning at all and once it's happening it's unpredictable that you wouldn't know if the grounds you're standing on will open up or something from above will come crashing down on you. And the aftershocks and of course the threat of tsunami .

I lived in Japan for close to a decade and even the larger quakes we had while there were nothing compared to those like the video in OPs post. That seemed to go on forever.

I was once in a skyscraper in Tokyo (47th floor) during a quake and the whole building was swaying. I could hear people screaming on the floors above and below me (aside from those in the same room as I was). It was next to impossible to stand. Most of us were sitting/crouched on the floor, just waiting for the building to tip over/collapse. I saw footage afterwards where you could see the tower buildings swaying ... and the noise they made while doing so.

Occasionally, I'd be sitting at home and suddenly, a side to side quake would happen, which meant things would fall. There are many fatalities every year from people being crushed by bookshelves or other furniture not mounted securely to the wall.

There seem to be those where you can sense it coming ... before a very faint shake that gets progressively worse, or those where it's BAM - sudden shaking. Some more up and down, while others are side to side.

I visited about a month after the 3/11 quake and even the aftershocks were incredibly strong.

Not the video I was referring to but this one shows building swaying, ground movement and liquefaction.

And didnt it change the axis of the earth by a small degree

Yes, R74 The quake back in Sumatra (2004?) Chilean quake in 2010 and the Japan quake in 2011, all shifted earth on it's access to varying degrees. Honshu (large Japanese island) is estimated to have moved 10cm.

The Japanese are the best engineers. They know how to build in an earthquake zone.

R24, I saw this video years ago. At 10:46 something weird goes up the side of the house on the left.

[quote]My takeaway is: fuck a beach house, I'm going to live on a clifftop.

That'll work well for you during the tsunami, provided of course your house hasn't plummetted onto the beach below during the earthquake.

R77, you're right. It is weird and eerie. People comment under the youtube video about that weird white thing going up the wall. And there's a link below where somebody excerpted that part of the video and slowed it down and enlarged it. Some speculate it was propane gas from a submerged tank.