Japan Earthquake 8.9 Tsunami hits (11 March 2011)

Added On March 11, 2011

Tokyo (CNN) -- An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan on Friday, triggering tsunamis and sending a massive body of water filled with debris that included boats and houses inching toward highways.

The epicenter was 373 kilometers (231 miles) away from the capital, Tokyo, the United States Geological Survey said. But residents there felt the tremors.

The quake rattled buildings and toppled cars off bridges and into waters underneath. Waves of debris flowed like lava across farmland, pushing boats, houses and trailers toward highways.

In Tokyo, crowds gathered in the streets and tried to reach relatives via cell phone.
Quake slams Japan
Tsunami waves crash ashore Japan

Scenes inside office buildings showed papers strewn all over the floor and people clinging onto seats and desks.

Such a large earthquake at such a shallow depth creates a lot of energy, said Shenza Chen of the U.S. Geological Survey.

It caused a power outage in about 4 million homes in Tokyo and surrounding areas.

A tsunami in the Pacific was moving closer to other shorelines in other countries, said CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.

It triggered tsunami warnings for various countries, including Japan and Russia, the National Weather Service said.

"Earthquakes of this size are known to generate tsunamis potentially dangerous to coasts outside the source region," it said.

"Based on all available data a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas even far from the epicenter."

The quake was the latest in a series in the region this week.

Early Thursday, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 struck off the coast of Honshu.

A day earlier, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off of Honshu, the country's meteorological agency said.

The largest recorded quake took place in Chile on May 22, 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5, the USGS said.

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• earthquake
• tsunami
• cnn
• japan earthquake
• japan tsunami
• japan earthquake 2011

[nokbek]

pray for japan and the world

[Sabsonic]

Prayers won't do shit, they won't help the countless people who died, or the ones who maybe will die because of the radiation . Donate money to the red cross if you want to be useful, any amount helps.

[heshin117]

hahahahahahahahahahahaha!! this shit is funny!!

[SuperEpicMickey]

Omg! My grandpas there.NOooooooooooooooooooooo T_T My grandpa...

[MsStonge]

It's amazing how the bridge stood standing and the people that watched from the bridge! That would have scared me to death! God Bless Japan! it is a Beautiful country. And am praying for their recovery<3

[MrDuckywell]

Isn't it so depressing and terrible what a big disaster can occur in some seconds or even minutes of unluckiness??!! WE SHOULD ALL pray for Japan. I also cannot understand why there are people so cruel thumbing down such videos...???

[bigfishpondhome]

@1FanTPain You are a fuck head

[1FanTPain]

The Whales Are Getting Them Back!!!

[sakuramiyakawa]

Why are there so many typos in this vid? @_@ anyway, I felt the quake since I live in Tokyo and I have many relatives and friends from

Sendai and I haven't heard from them yet :((

[teedonster]

why did it have to be japan? why cant be be saudi fucking arabia insead

[purplepain78]

I dare one person to give buying some useless crap, like an ipod, trendy shoes or a video game and send that money to Japan. I DARE you. I'm giving up all of my hobby money for 3 months. Give up ONE luxury so people in need can have the HOPE of one necessity.