Japan temblor Presented by Group 6- Newton Del castillo, Ross Mendoza, CK Estanislao, Shan Perez, Gem Magsombol, Leslie

March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake shook northeastern Japan, unleashing a savage tsunami.

Friday, March 11, 2011 at 02:46:24 PM at epicenter Magnitude 9.0 Date-time Friday, March 11, 2011 at 05:46:24 UTC Friday, March 11, 2011 at 02:46:24 PM at epicenter Location 38.297°N, 142.372°E Depth 30 km (18.6 miles) set by location program Region NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN Distances 129 km (80 miles) E of Sendai, Honshu, Japan 177 km (109 miles) E of Yamagata, Honshu, Japan 177 km (109 miles) ENE of Fukushima, Honshu, Japan 373 km (231 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

The March 11 earthquake was preceded by a series of large foreshocks over the previous two days, beginning on March 9th with a magnitude 7.2 event approximately 40 km from the epicenter of the March 11 earthquake, and continuing with another three earthquakes greater than magnitude 6 on the same day.

The earthquake ruptured a 500-kilometer-long fault zone off the northeast coast of Japan. Its epicenter was 130 kilometers off Sendai, Honshu; it occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 32 kilometers. The temblor violently shook northeast Honshu for six minutes, and collapsed its coastline by one meter. The thrusting moved Honshu about 2.4 meters eastward, and the seismic waves on the Pacific Ocean floor set off tsunami waves Waves 3 to 38 meters tall pounded Honshu’s coastline, destroying towns and villages and flooding areas up to 10 kilometers inland. Tsunami waves also swept across the Pacific, 

15,703 people killed, 4,647 missing, 5,314 injured, 130,927 displaced and at least 332,395 buildings, 2,126 roads, 56 bridges and 26 railways destroyed or damaged by the earthquake and tsunami along the entire east coast of Honshu from Chiba to Aomori. The majority of casualties and damage occurred in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima from a Pacific-wide tsunami.

 The total economic loss in Japan was estimated at 309 billion US dollars. Electricity, gas and water supplies, telecommunications and railway service disrupted and several reactors severely damaged at a nuclear power plant near Okuma. Several fires occurred in Chiba and Miyagi. At least 1,800 houses destroyed when a dam failed in Fukushima. Horizontal displacement and subsidence observed. Landslides occurred in Miyagi. Liquefaction observed at Chiba, Odaiba, Tokyo and Urayasu. The tsunami destroyed many coastal towns in the Kuji-Minamisanriku-Nami area.

The earthquake in Japan takes heavy toll on ageing population In one particularly shocking incident, Japan's self-defence force discovered 128 elderly people abandoned by medical staff at a hospital six miles from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. Most of them were comatose and 14 died shortly afterwards. Eleven others were reported dead at a retirement home in Kesennuma because of freezing temperatures, six days after 47 of their fellow residents were killed in the tsunami.

The earthquake in Japan takes heavy toll on ageing population Almost a quarter of Japan's population are 65 or over, and hypothermia, dehydration and respiratory diseases are taking hold among the elderly in shelters, many of whom lost their medication when the wave struck, according to Eric Ouannes, general director of Doctors Without Borders' Japan affiliate.