March 11, 2011 Tsunami: Honshu Island, Japan

The March 11, 2011 earthquake near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, generated a devastating tsunami that was observed all over the Pacific and caused tremendous devastation locally. The highest wave from the tsunami was 38.9 m in the Iwate Prefecture reported by 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami Joint Survey Group. Tide gauge recordings in Japan range from 1 to 7 m; 2.5 m waves were observed by eyewitnesses in the Kuril I, Russia; 2 m waves were observed at tide gauges in South America, Hawaii, and the west coast of the United States. The highest wave that has ever been recorded by an ocean-bottom sensor was a 1.78 m wave recorded by DART station 21418 located 450 nautical miles northeast of Tokyo.

20,319 deaths, 405719 affected, $210 billion damage. (ref #1250)

The Japan Cabinet Office has estimated the losses to 16,9 Trillion Yen (approximately 220 Billion US $). (ref #10814)

15,901 deaths and 2,519 missing, 6,167 injured according to Police Measures and Damages Caused by the 2011 Tohoku Pacific Coast Earthquake, as of Mar 09, 2026, National Police Agency of Japan. (ref #9608) (Injuries from Mar 10, 2021 report) Note: one (1) distant death in California, USA, and one (1) Indonesia. Also, a death due to radiation exposure after tsunami.

The government of Japan acknowledged for the first time that a former worker of the Fukushima nuclear plant has died as a result of radiation exposure - seven years after the plant was hit by a tsunami (ref #12220)

Japan's government says the total cost of the damage caused by the tsunami could reach 25 trillion yen (~USD $300 billion). (ref #9502)

According to the Jiji Press's report as of April 19th, the National Policy Agency issued the breakout of the death (13,135 confirmed by autopsy) separated by age, in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures, the most affected areas by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The report shows that death of the aged 60 or elder consists of more than 65.2% of total death toll, while number of children and youth under 19 consist 6.5%. It also reported 5,971 are male, and 7,036 are female. 12,143 (92.4%) were drowned to death, and, 578 were crushed to death, 148 were burnt to death. 83.2% of the bodies were identified until now. (ref #9445)

Economic losses caused by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and the resulting tsunami in Japan came to $210 billion, making it the costliest natural catastrophe of all time. (ref #9677)

Following the earthquake, 345 fires occurred in 12 prefectures, including cases where the tsunami triggered the fire. (ref #9386)

More than 40% of all the fires spawned by the Great East Japan Earthquake were the result of the massive tsunami that followed, a recent study by an academic society has found. (ref #10858)

[...] maximum amplitude in California was measured at 2.47 m in Crescent City Harbor [...] Those most significantly affected [harbors] were Crescent City, Noyo River, Santa Cruz, Moss Landing, and southern Shelter Island. [...] one fatality occurring during the 2011 tsunami at the mouth of the Klamath River [...] post-event field assessments and interviews with harbor masters put the unofficial estimate closer to $100 M (ref #9918)

It resulted in the total destruction of 129,000 houses, with 255,000 being partially destroyed and a further 697,000 sustaining some damaged. Among these, some 7,600 houses were destroyed by ground shaking, 19,000 were damaged by liquefaction, and the rest (nearly 98%) were affected by the tsunami. Approximately 500,000 people lost their houses and were displaced... 92% of casualties were due to drowning by the tsunami... The total area of the 2011 tsunami inundation was estimated as 561 sq km by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan... (ref #11019)

In the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, the maximum run‐up height was 39.7 m at Miyako (ref #9594)