Tokyo is situated on Japan’s main Honshu island which is turn sits at the intersection of three continental plates, the Eurasian, Pacific and Philippine Sea plates, which are slowly grinding against each other, building up enormous seismic pressure that every so often is realised with ferocious force.
Volcanoes and oceanic trenches around the Pacific Basin which holds Japan have earned the area the name The Ring of Fire.
Japan accounts for about 20 per cent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude six or greater and on average, an earthquake occurs there every five minutes.
When earthquakes occur under the sea floor, they unleash tsunamis which are often more devastating than the quake itself.
Tsunamis, from the Japanese word for harbour and wave, are vast quantities of water displaced by the violent movement of the earth’s crust.
This water moves as waves, able to travel vast distances at high speeds, sweeping over landmasses and demolishing everything in their path.
Several factors determine the height and destructiveness of a tsunami. They include the size of the quake, the volume of displaced water, the topography of the sea floor as the waves race to the coast and whether there are natural obstacles that dampen the shock.
Destruction of protective mangroves and coral reefs and the building of homes or hotels on exposed beaches are blamed as leading causes of high death tolls from tsunamis.
Kevin McCue, a seismologist at CQUniversity in Queensland, Australia, said that although the death toll was likely to be high, the quake’s distance from Tokyo, the world’s most populous city, was a blessing.
“In 1923 in the great Kanto earthquake which measured 7.9, 147,000 people died so our expectation is that many people will be killed and there will be extensive damage,” he said.
“Fortunately for Tokyo it’s a bit further north than the great Kanto earthquake was, which means the damage in Tokyo is likely to be much less.”
Tsunami from Japan earthquake in Miyagi 11 March 2011
Japan 8.9 earthquake and tsunami (NHK footage) – March 11th 2011
Pictures of the devastation caused by the tsunami and earthquake in Japan
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Water surrounds the terminal at Sendai Airport after it was hit by an earthquake-triggered tsunami.
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Cars and debris are carried through the streets of Kesennuma
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The oncoming tsunami strikes the coast in Natori City, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan
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Houses are damaged by water following a tsunami and earthquake in Ibaraki city, Ibaraki Prefecture
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Earthquake-triggered tsumani waves sweep the shore along Iwanuma in northern Japan
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A closer look at the earthquake-induced tsumani waves sweeping into shore in Iwanuma
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Houses are swept away by a tsunami in Natori
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A tsunami triggered by the powerful earthquake sweeps through Sendai airport in northern Japan
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A fireball rise from an oil refinery after a powerful earthquake in Ichihara, Chiba prefecture
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Buildings burn after the earthquake near Sendai Airport in Japan
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Smoke billows from burning homes as a coastal area is flooded in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture
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Houses are damaged by the tsunami in Iwaki
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Houses are destroyed by floods following the earthquake in Iwaki town, Fukushima prefecture
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A tsunami tidal wave washes away houses and businesses in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture
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Houses lie flattened in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, after a massive earthquake
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People look at a factory building that collapsed in Sukagawa city, Fukushima prefecture
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A worker inspects a caved-in section of the Joban Motorway near Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture
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Japanese police direct traffic on a highway destroyed during the earthquake in Fukushima prefecture
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Cars hang over the edge of a precipice at a car park in Yabuki
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Vehicles are seen on a damaged road at a carpark in Yabuki, in southern Fukushima Prefecture
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Tsunami waves swirl near a port in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture
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Smouldering houses are swept away by the tsunami near Sendai Airport in Japan
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Light planes and vehicles sit among the debris after they were swept by a tsumani that struck Sendai airport
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Natural gas storage tanks burn at a facility in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo
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Vehicles are crushed by a collapsed wall at a carpark in Mito city in Ibaraki prefecture
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Tsunami waves hit residences after a powerful earthquake in Natori, Miyagi prefecture
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