ABSTRACT
The Great East Japan earthquake occurred 11 March 2011. It was the strongest earthquake since modern record-keeping began in Japan. It was also the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since 1900. The magnitude was 9.0, and the surface energy of the seismic waves was nearly double that of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004. The hypocenter was in the underwater depths off the coast of Japan’s northeast region (Tohoku). The large shocks and subsequent enormous tsunami destroyed many physical structures. The earthquake and tsunami also caused human damage. More than twenty-five hundred people went missing, and more than fifteen thousand people were killed directly. According to the latest information as of 25 December 2015, the total number of deaths, including indirect deaths (death in emergency shelters, suicides afterward, etc.), was more than nineteen thousand.1
