Overview
A powerful 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan on Friday (March 11) at 1446 local time (0546 GMT), unleashing massive tsunami waves that crashed into Japan's northeastern coast of Honshu, the largest and main island of Japan, resulting in widespread damage and destruction. According to the Government of Japan (GoJ) as of Wednesday (March 16), at least 3,676 people are confirmed dead, 2,043 people are injured and some 7,845 people are reported to be missing, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported. However, national media is reporting that more than 15,000 people are unaccounted for in affected areas. The UN also reported that it is estimated that less than a hundred people died due to the earthquake alone. The UN says that it is expected that the numbers are likely to increase as emergency teams reach and assess affected areas. The earthquake sparked widespread tsunami warnings across the Pacific. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the shallow quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 km) (20 km deep according to Japan's Meteorological Agency), around 80 miles (125 km) off the eastern coast of Japan, and 240 miles (380 km) northeast of Tokyo. It was reportedly the largest recorded quake in Japan's history and the fourth largest in the world since 1900. The quake was felt in Japan's capital city, Tokyo, located hundreds of miles from the epicenter and was also felt as far away as the Chinese capital, Beijing, some 1,500 miles away.
There have been more than 290 aftershocks recorded since Friday (March 11) and a 6.0 magnitude aftershock on Monday (March 14), triggered a three meter (9 feet) high tsunami in northeast Japan. Japan's Meteorological Agency says there is a 70 percent possibility of more aftershocks higher than 7.0 in the coming days. Because of this the UN says that there are concerns of the many buildings already weakened and thus more vulnerable. Coastal areas also remain vulnerable because of previous damage from tsunami. The continuing aftershocks and threat of tsunami are hampering rescue efforts, according to the UN.
Japan's worst previous quake was an 8.3 magnitude quake in 1923 (Great Kanto Earthquake) that left some 143,000 dead. More recently, the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Kobe in 1995 (Great Hanshin Earthquake) left some 6,400 dead. According to the UN, Friday's quake shifted the island of Honshu by some two and a half meters and the ground also sunk around 72 centimeters in Fukushima and Iwate prefectures.