11. March 2011
15 years ago
A magnitude-9.0 earthquake sent a ten-metre wave surging over Japan's coast — and changed the country forever.
At 2:46 p.m. on 11 March 2011, the seabed off the Tōhoku coast of Japan began to lurch. It became the most powerful earthquake in the country's history — magnitude 9.0 — so violent it shifted the main island and shortened the day by a fraction of a second.
Scroll through the wave↓
Along the coast something ominous happened: the sea drew back and bared the seabed. It was the tsunami's first breath. Warning sirens wailed, and people fled toward higher ground.
Then came the wave. A black wall of water, in places over ten metres high, rose off the coast and rolled inland with unimaginable force.
The water surged over breakwaters and seawalls, swallowed entire towns and carried cars, boats and houses kilometres inland. Tens of thousands lost their lives.
The wave also struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and triggered a meltdown. But in the years that followed, Japan rebuilt its coast — and a thousand folded paper cranes became a symbol of hope and remembrance.