Japanese and California scientists are now reporting they were able to track the March 11 tsunami on radar. It was the first time a tsunami was observed on radar.
For the past ten years, scientists from California and Japan, have been using radar to track ocean currents. They discovered they could track large tsunamis as well.
The radar did not pick up the actual tsunami surge, but the changes in the ocean currents caused by the surge. The scientists hope radar could be used as an tsunami early warning system.
The Journal of Glaciology, and NASA, says that 18 hours after the massive March 11 tsuanami hit Japan, it torn off huge chucks of ice at the South Pole.
Large pieces of the Sulzberger ice shelf, one the size of Manhattan, broke off between March 12 and 16. NASA scientists watched and took pictures of the event using a satellite.
NASA said they immediately turned there eyes towards the South Pole when the March 11 tsunami hit Japan. They wanted to test a long time hypothesis, that large numbers of ice bergs appearing in the ocean coincide with large earthquakes and tsunamis. They got their proof.
Amazingly the tsunami was only one foot high when it hit the Sulzberger ice shelf.
An independent panel, investigating the Japanese government’s policies, regarding natural disasters, has found many faults that actually made things worse after the March 11 disasters.
Two primary faults were pointed out at a press conference.
One was the lack of an evacuation policy. It seems the government never expected to have to evacuate survivors. The panel said in the future, evacuation plans must be a pillar of dealing with natural disaster.
The second major fault (pun intended) was that the government ignored geographical evidence of 9.0 earthquakes, and hundred feet high tsunamis along Japan’s coastline. The result was that buildings and seawalls along the coastline were not built strong enough.
Also, the panel discovered that most of the government’s hazard maps and historical tsunami data are totally wrong.
The independent panel will now research ways for the Japanese government to come up with a functional natural disaster preparedness plan.
A report discovered by Japan’s NHK news, shows that officials knew in February that a major tsunami could hit Japan soon.
The report was put together by the Earthquake Research Committee. It looked at geographical evidence, and recent studies, and came up with a scenario that is exactly like what happened on 11 March. It even named Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures as being the hardest hit!
The conclusion of the report was that the prefectures of north east Honshu needed to make preparations. Even though the report was finish in February, the officials weren’t planning on releasing it until April. Apparently even the experts didn’t think it could actually happen.
A team from Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, has determined that the Aneyoshi district of Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture, suffered the highest tsunami damage.
They found evidence that the surge hit 38.9 meters (127.6 feet). This beats the 115 year old record, held by the same prefecture, of 38.2 meters. That record was set in 1896.
Professor Akio Okayasu said despite the high surge there was little damage. That’s because the town’s ancestors learned from the 1896 tsunami, and rebuilt most of their town on higher ground.
A Kyodo News investigation revealed that more than 100 evacuation sites were swept away by the March 11 tsunami.
Most of the evacuation sites were selected by local governments. One of the main reasons for selecting the site, even though many were near sea level, is that they were thought to be too far inland for any tsunami. Not only was the tsunami higher than expected, it reached much farther inland.
In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, most elementary school students lost their lives, along with all but one of their teachers, no thanks to a vague manual about tsunami evacuations.
On March 11, 70% of students at Okawa Primary School were killed. 10 of the 11 teachers were also killed. When the 9.0 earthquake hit, teachers knew they needed to get the kids home, so they called the parents to come pick them up. But time was against them. Suddenly the tsunami warning sounded. The teachers looked in a manual to figure out what to do. The manual simply said “get to higher ground”.
Okawa Primary School is located on the edge of a large river that empties into the ocean. The only high ground is a steep mountainside that the teachers didn’t think the kids could climb, so they headed for a bridge. A 70 year old witness said he was amazed, they were going the wrong way! He ran towards the mountain and survived, only to witness the line of children, and their teachers, get hit by the tsunami.
One problem for the decision making of the teachers was a tsunami survey, which said that any tsunami that reached the school would be less than one meter (3.2 feet) high. The tsunami that hit the school, on March 11, was 10 meters (32.8 feet) high. “No one thought tsunami would even reach this area.”-witness
Japanese scientist, going over the damage from 11 March tsunami, say buildings made of the toughest concrete, and several stories tall, were totally destroyed by the tsunami. That included building that were thought to be safe for use as emergency shelters, of course most people in those shelters died.
The scientist say the most damage was not caused by the in rushing tsunami, but by the tsunami rushing back out to sea. They point out that anything that rushes uphill, will go faster when it rolls back downhill. They say the same is true with tsunami, and of course, the bigger the tsunami the more dangerous its backwash is.
The strongest buildings, that were wiped out, show evidence that they were destroyed by the tsunami backwash.
In one north eastern Honshu coastal town, a city employee manned the emergency loudspeaker system, right up to the very end.
In video from NHK you can hear the woman’s voice echoing through the city (it’s truly haunting when you realize what is going on) even as the tsunami sweeps over all the buildings, including the 3 story town hall. Miki Endo told residents to get to higher ground, over and over, with an intensity that caused some residents to think twice about going back home. One woman said if it wasn’t for Miki’s announcements she would not have realized the severity of the situation, and would have returned home instead of seeking higher ground.
Here’s a Spanish language news report that has the haunting NHK video. I had a link to the original NHK report but apparently it’s been removed from the internet.
The 3 story steel I-beam framed town hall is nothing but a skeleton now. The walls, floor and roof are gone. Workers in the building rushed to the roof when they realized the tsunami was taller than the top floor. The roof was still not tall enough, and most lost their lives, the survivors said they held on to exposed pylons for dear life. The whole time Miki Endo, still inside the town hall, stayed at her post telling the towns people to get to higher ground, telling them they must go higher.
From left to right: The top of the 3 story Disaster Center (where people had fled thinking it was safe) completely covered by water, the water begins to recede, in just a few seconds the tsunami had totally striped the 3 story building killing almost everybody.
To update the story, and since so many people continue to read it, it turns out that Miki was not the only one who stayed at her post. Miki’s boss stayed by her side, he also urged residents to get to higher ground, he was lost as well.
Miki has not been seen since, and her parents refuse to leave the devastated town, hoping to find her.
Japanese scientist say there is a new threat associated with tsunamis: Fire.
Thanks to our reliance on petroleum products, especially fuel, coastal cities face destruction by fire, as well as water.
Several Japanese coastal towns burned to the ground because of fires started by the tsunami. Boats, cars and fuel storage facilities hit by the tsunami, spilled fuel onto the water, catching fire, apparently by sparks from metal being clashed together in the tsunami, or electrical shorts in boats and cars.
Those fires then spread to buildings. Local fire departments discovered that water lines for fire hydrants had been destroyed by the quake/tsunami.
Hardest hit by the fires, Kesennuma, suffered intense fire. Witnesses say that fire spread throughout the city in less than 3 hours after the tsunami hit. The city was still burning 5 days later.
