The devastation is just heartbreaking. Apparently, an event this massive occurs only once every one-thousand years:
Dr Roger Musson, head of seismic hazard at the British Geological Survey, said there were similarities between the last week's event and another giant wave that hit the Sendai coast in 869AD.It is not unusual for undersea earthquakes to generate tsunamis in this part of Japan. Offshore quakes in the 19th and 20th centuries also caused large walls of water to hit this area of coastline.
But previous research by a Japanese team shows that in the 869 "Jogan" disaster, tsunami waters moved some 4km inland, causing widespread flooding.
About 10 years ago, a team led by Professor Koji Minoura, from Japan's Tohoku University, analysed sediments from the Sendai and Soma coastal plains that preserved traces of the tsunami in 869.
Their results indicated that the medieval tsunami was probably triggered by a Magnitude 8.3 offshore quake and that waters spread more than 4km from the shore.
They also found evidence of two earlier tsunamis on the scale of the Jogan disaster, leading them to conclude that there had been three massive events in the last 3,000 years.
The BGS seismologist acknowledged there had been other notably large earthquakes in the region in 1933 and in the 1890s. But he said: "There is a convenient little fact to remember... if you know how often Magnitude 9 earthquakes are, you will get Magnitude 8 earthquakes roughly 10 times as often and Magnitude 7 earthquakes approximately 100 times as often."
Please give to any of the following organizations:
* Oxfam America
* International Medical Corps
* Habitat for Humanity
* UN Foundation
* American Red Cross
We can never forget these images:
Tsunami as it first comes ashore.
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Tags: earthquake, Japan, tsunami
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