Damage of 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami

Six years have passed since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. This year was the sixth anniversary of the victims' deaths called 7kaiki(七回忌,7th ki.) In Japanese Buddhism, the year a person died is counted as the beginning of ki(忌.)  However, the first anniversary of a person's death is called 1syuuki(一周忌, 1st ki.) Relatives commonly attend the memorial service until the 3kaiki. Generally, a memorial service is held on the 1st(1syuuki), 2nd(3kaiki), 6th(7kaiki), 12th(13kaiki) anniversary of the death. Although there are also the memorial services of 17kaiki, 23kaiki, 27kaiki, 33kaiki, 37kaiki, 43kaiki, 47kaiki and 50kaiki, they are rarely held.

Here are subset of the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami.

・A tsunami is a series of waves, and the first wave may not be the most dangerous.
・Even a small tsunami can cause damage to moored vessels and aquaculture facilities.
・Strong shaking and long-period ground motion from the quake wreaked widespread havoc.

Tsunami-inundated area is outlined in red. For comparison, the map of Great Britain and Ireland is showed. Britain is also an island country and is not too different in size to Japan. Just for your information, the total tsunami-inundated area(561km²) is nearly equal to the areas of Aberdeen(185.7 km²), Edinburgh(264 km²) and Liverpool(111.8 km².)

The spilling wave of the tsunami is terrible, but its backrush is more terrible. The backrush washed people and coastal structures into the sea with speed greater than the speed of the spilling wave. The backrush plummeted into the sea from the top of the quay wall as if a waterfall fell into the basin of water from its top. Some victims floating or on the roofs were driven to the basin.

Most foreign media only pick up on tsunami and Fukushima's nuclear power station. However, the quake caused strong shaking and serious damage to us.

Damage caused by Great East Japan Earthquake as of 1 March 2017
(Fire and Disaster Management Agency released)

Prefectures	Casualties			Residence Buildings					Non-residential Buildings		Fire
	Dead	Missing	Injured	Completely destroyed	Half destroyed	Partially destroyed	Inundation  above floor level	Inundation  below floor level	Public buildings	Others
Hokkaido	1	-	3	-	4	7	329	545	17	452	4
Aomori	3	1	110	308	701	1,005	-	-	-	1,402	11
Yamagata	3	-	45	-	14	1,249	-	-	8	124	2
Akita	-	-	11	-	-	5	-	-	-	-	1
Iwate	5,134	1,122	211	19,507	6,570	18,963	-	6	529	4,178	33
Miyagi	10,556	1,234	4,148	83,000	155,129	224,202	-	7,796	9,948	16,848	137
Fukushima	3,730	225	182	15,218	80,628	141,154	1,061	351	1,010	36,770	38
Ibaraki	65	1	714	2,629	24,374	187,682	1,799	779	1,798	20,804	31
Tochigi	4	-	133	261	2,118	73,792	-	-	718	9,703	-
Gunma	1	-	40	-	7	17,679	-	-	-	-	2
Saitama	1	-	104	24	199	16,570	-	-	95	-	12
Chiba	22	2	261	801	10,152	55,043	157	731	12	827	18
Tokyo	8	-	119	20	223	6,552	-	-	419	786	35
Kanagawa	5	-	137	-	41	459	-	-	-	13	6
Niigata	-	-	3	-	-	17	-	-	4	5	-
Yamanashi	-	-	2	-	-	4	-	-	1	1	-
Nagano	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shizuoka	-	-	3	-	-	13	-	5	-	-	-
Mie	-	-	1	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
Osaka	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	3**	-	-
Tokushima	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	9	-	-	-
Kochi	-	-	1	-	-		2	8	-	-	-
Total	19,533	2,585	6,230	121,768	280,160	744,396	3,352	10,230	14,562	91,913	330

*The fatalities number includes disaster-related death
**A skyscraper building in Osaka was slightly damaged by long-period ground motion.  The motion caused damage to  floating roofs of oil storage tanks by liquid sloshing in Yamagata, Niigata, Kanagawa and Chiba Prefectures.

Cause of death in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima prefectures
(National Police Agency, Cabinet Office)

Causes	Percentage Of Deaths
Drowning	92.4%
Shaking(collapse, etc.)	4.4%
Fire	1.1%
Unspecified	2%

Current situations of evacuees as of 13 February 2017
(Reconstruction Agency)

	Houses of relatives, acquaintances  etc.	Residence (including public housing、 temporary housing、 privately rented housing、 hospitals
Evacuee numbers	18,177	104,991

Temporary housing residents as of January 2017
by Yahoo Japan(https://fukko.yahoo.co.jp/graph/)

Prefectures	Number of Temporary housing Residents
Iwate	10,503
Miyagi	12,619
Fukushima	12,381

Even in Japan, a house is probably the largest purchase one makes in his lifetime.
Most people build a house with a loan.

Single-family houses built in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima prefectures after the  Great East Japan Earthquake
by Yahoo Japan(https://fukko.yahoo.co.jp/graph/)

	using public system	by oneself
number of houses	19,074	31,769

Tsunami-inundated areas(km²)
 (Geospatial Information Authority of Japan)

Prefectures	Total	Land use Type
		Rice paddies	Urban areas	Seashore
Aomori	24	0.72	2.4	7.9
Iwate	58	9.86	19.72	1.74
Miyagi	327	134.07	68.67	6.54
Fukushima	112	59.36	13.44	3.36
Ibaraki	23	1.38	3.45	6.67
Chiba	17	3.57	2.55	3.91
total	561	207.57	112.2	33.66

Damage of medical and welfare institutions in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima prefectures
(Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)

	hospitals		medical clinics		dental clinics
prefectures	Completely destroyed	Partially destroyed	Completely destroyed	Partially destroyed	Completely destroyed	Completely destroyed
Iwate	3	59	38	76	46	79
Miyagi	5	123	43	581	32	367
Fukushima	2	108	2	516	5	374
total	10	290	83	1,173	83	820

	child welfare facilities		elder care facilities		facilities for the disabled
prefectures	Completely destroyed	Partially destroyed	Completely destroyed	Partially destroyed	Completely destroyed	Completely destroyed
Iwate	12	29	9	92	9	56
Miyagi	13	131	2	54	11	122
Fukushima	2	92	1	168	0	70
total	27	252	12	314	20	248

Infrastructure damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake as of 1 March 2016
(National Police Agency)

Prefectures	Damaged points			Landslides	Dike breaks
	Roads	Bridges	Railroads
Aomori	2	-	-	-	-
Yamagata	21	-	-	29	-
Akita	9	-	-	-	-
Iwate	30	4	-	6	-
Miyagi	390	12	26	51	45
Fukushima	187	3	-	9	-
Ibaraki	307	41	-	-	-
Tochigi	257	-	2	40	-
Gunma	36	-	-	9	-
Saitama	160	-	-	-	-
Chiba	2,343	-	1	55	-
Tokyo	295	55	-	6	-
Kanagawa	160	1	-	2	-
Gifu	1	-	-	-	-
Total	4,198	116	29	207	45

Even a small tsunami caused damage to aquaculture: Rafts or fishing float balls were swept away. Fouled ropes became unusable. Fish escaped from broken live boxes.

Damage of Fisheries
(Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan)

Prefectures	Fishing vessels	Fishing ports	Joint Use Facilities**	Fishery Processing Facilities			Aquaculture			Tsunami Height (Obsevation  Point)
				Completely  destroyed	Half  destroyed	Inundation	Farmed species	Facility damage (millions of yen)	Product damage (millions of yen)
Hokkaido	793	12	83	-	4	27	Scallop, Oyster, Sea urchin, Konbu(kelp),  Wakame(Sea mustard) etc.	9,356	5,771	430cm (Toyokoro-cho)
Aomori	620	18	73	4	14	39	Konbu, Scallop	43	19	840cm (Hachinohe Port)
Iwate	13,271	108	580	128	16	-	Scallop, Oyster, Konbu, Wakame etc.	13,087	13,174	1670cm (Ofunato)
Miyagi	12,029	142	495	323	17	38	Silver salmon, Scallop, Oyster, Sea squirts、 Konbu, Wakame, Nori(algae) etc.	48,700	33,189	1480cm (Onagawa Port)
Fukushima	873	10	233	77	16	12	Nori etc.	297	536	1650cm (Futaba-cho)
Ibaraki	488	16	172	32	33	12	Carp, Pearl etc.	27***	-	690cm (Kitaibaraki City)
Tochigi	-	-	2***	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Chiba	405	13	78	6	13	12	Nori etc.	428	737	640cm (Asahi City)
Tokyo	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	150cm (Harumi)
Kanagawa	-	-	-	-	-	-	Wakame etc.	33	32	155cm (Yokohama)
Niigata	5	-	-	-	-	-	Nishikigoi (Japanese  colored carp)	4***	-	18cm (Niigata  West Port)
Toyama	8*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9cm (Shinminato)
Ishikawa	1*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	19cm (Kanazawa)
Shizuoka	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	144cm (Omaezaki)
Aichi	8	-	-	-	-	-	Nori etc.	-	-	155cm (Akabane, Tahara City)
Mie	26	-	4	-	-	-	Red seabream, Pacific bluefin tuna, Oyster, Nori, Pearl etc.	1,274	2,355	182cm (Toba)
Hyogo	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	27cm (Kobe)
Wakayama	6	-	-	-	-	-	Red seabream, Pacific bluefin tuna etc.	141	834	151cm (Fukuro Port, Kushimoto-cho)
Tottori	2*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	26 cm (Sakai, Sakaiminato)
Tokushima	10	-	-	-	-	-	Greater amberjack, Japanese amberjack, White trevally, Wakame etc.	65	508	115cm (Yuki, Minami-cho)
Kochi	25	-	2	-	-	-	Greater amberjack, Red seabream, Nori etc.	228	2,377	278cm (Susaki)
Oita	2	-	-	-	-	-	Red seabream, Japanese amberjack, White trevally, Olive flounder	85	175	55cm ( Beppu Port)
Miyazaki	20	-	-	-	-	-	Japanese amberjack, Atlantic horse mackerel, Japanese meagre etc.	0.28	6	164cm (Miyazaki Port)
Kagoshima	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	106cm (Shibushi Port)
Okinawa	-	-	-	-	-	-	Mozuku (Cladosiphon okamuranus), Cobia	6	32	60cm (Naha)
Total	28,612	319	1,725	570	113	140		73,776	59,745

*vessels damaged during mooring in affected ports

**fish markets、vanning/devanning facilities、oil depots、collaborative workspaces, fry facilities, ice-making and fridge-freezer facilities, aquaculture facilities etc.
***damages include aquaculture ponds damaged by shaking

Damage of Agriculture

(Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan)

Prefectures	Damaged points				Crop and Livestock damage (millions of yen)	Agriculture-related facilities *4, animal Husbandry facilities *5 (millions of yen)
	Farmland	Agricultural facilities*1	Seashore protective facilities *2	Rural community facilities*3
Aomori	20	22	1	2	258	582
Yamagata	102	134	0	2	70	58
Akita	0	7	0	11	1	1
Iwate	13,321	3,657	15	41	1,983	2,865
Miyagi	1,495	4,724	103	107	8,214	35,121
Fukushima	1,799	3,749	20	141	805	1,305
Ibaraki	187	1,805	0	96	984	4,348
Tochigi	238	405	0	23	1,017	3,506
Gunma	0	32	0	0	-	5
Saitama	0	67	0	0	-	-
Chiba	113	2,225	0	16	632	1,265
Kanagawa	0	1	0	0	-	-
Nagano	746	235	0	4	250	236
Shizuoka	0	2	0	0	-	-
Niigata	165	252	0	7	-	-
Total	18,186	17,317	139	450	14,213	49,292

*1 farm pond, waterway, pump, etc.
*2 dike, spur, bank protection, coastal Levee, detached breakwater, sand beach, etc.
*3 rural community sewerage, etc.
*4 grain elevator, agricultural warehouse, pipe house, etc.
*5 livestock barn, compost depot, etc.



Damage of Forestry
(Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan)

Prefectures	Damaged points					Forest damage (ha)
	Forest dilapidation	Forest conservation facilities *1	Forest Road Facilities *2	Wood processing  and distribution Facilities *3	Special Forest Product Facilities *4
Aomori	1	12	0	3	0	0
Yamagata	3	1	0	0	0	0
Akita	4	0	0	0	9	0
Iwate	37	84	483	31	195	707
Miyagi	113	97	580	42	54	220
Fukushima	143	27	997	31	39	138
Ibaraki	50	17	202	5	22	0
Tochigi	65	2	100	1	86	0
Gunma	7	1	3	0	4	0
Chiba	5	32	1	0	6	0
Niigata	20	1	122	0	41	0
Yamanashi	2	0	0	0	0	0
Nagano	7	1	138	1	20	0
Shizuoka	1	0	6	0	0	0
Kochi	0	0	0	1	0	0
Total	458	275	2,632	115	476	1,065

*1 coastal levee breach,  flank collapse, rockfall, landslide, etc.
*2 roadside slope failure, road shoulder collapse, landslide, etc.
*3 burned-out trees, fallen and broken trees due to tsunami
*4 forest products other than wood such as Japanese lacquer, mushroom

Damage of sediment disasters
(Sabo (Erosion and Sediment Control) Department,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism)

Disaster	Number	Dead	Prefectures
Mudflow, etc.	13	0	0
Landslides	29	16	14(Fukushima) 2(Tochigi)
Cliff failures	97	3	Fukushima
Avalanche	2	0
Total	141	19

Total estimated damage caused by the Great EastJapanEarthquake as of 24 June 2011
(Cabinet Office)

category	item	Estimated damage (trillions of yen)
Constructions, etc.	Residencial houses and land, Stores and offices, Factories, Machines, etc.	10.4
Lifeline Facilities	water, gas, Electric power, Telecommunication Facilities	1.3
Infrastructure facilities	Rivers, Roads, Ports and harbors, sewerage, Airports, etc.	2.2
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries	Farmland, Agricultural facilities, Forest-related Facilities, Fishery-related facilities	1.9
Others	Educational Facilities, Health and Welfare facilities, waste disposal facilities, other public facilities, etc.	1.1
total		16.9

16.9 trillion yen = $211,760(US millions, 2011) = €152,159(EUR millions, 2011) = £132,099(GBP millions, 2011) = 187,560(SFr millions, 2011) = C$209,341(CAD millions, 2011) = A$205,139(AUD Millions, 2011)
Just for your information, Japan's 2017 fiscal budget is 97.45 trillion yen ($870 billion).

Special Reconstruction Tax(2.1%) is imposed on individual income tax additionally from 2013 until 2037 for 25 years. Special Reconstruction Corporate Tax (10%) was imposed on corporations from 2012 to 2015.


There are several tours to tsunami-hit areas. Disaster tourism is not acceptable to all victims. The memory of the tsunami has been so painful that many victims just want to forget it. Meanwhile, many think the tragedy should not be remembered.

Natori City, Miyagi Prefecture:
http://www.kankou.natori.miyagi.jp/en/hisaichi/3715

Minamisanriku Hotel Kanyo’s "Storytelling bus tour",  Miyagi Prefecture:
https://trip101.com/article/the-memory-of-tohoku-earthquake-will-not-fade-minamisanriku-hotel-kanyo-s-storytelling-bus-tour
http://imakoso-tohoku.com/ouen-program/progno010/ (Japanese version only)
(Minamisanriku’s former Crisis Management Cente is under reinforcement)

Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture (Japanese version only):
http://imakoso-tohoku.com/ouen-program/progno007/
Otsuchi-cho, Iwate Prefecture (Japanese version only):
http://imakoso-tohoku.com/ouen-program/progno006/

Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture (Japanese version only):
http://imakoso-tohoku.com/ouen-program/progno003/

Ishinomaki and Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture (Japanese version only):
http://imakoso-tohoku.com/ouen-program/progno009/

Tour to area within 20km radius from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant (Japanese version only):
Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture
https://nomado.info/20km/

Evacuation instruction zones in Fukushima Prefecture:
・Evacuation order cancellation preparation zone
・Restricted residence zone
・Difficult-to-return zone

Currently, these zones(726km2) occupy 5% of areas of Fukushima Prefecture (13,783km2).


In these areas, most of younger generation don't come back to their hometowns. They have begun to build new lives in another towns to which they have evacuated.

The Fukushima Prefectural Government is now checking all bags of rice for radiation. Fukushima rice passes Japan's radiation checks, but the rice price is lower than that of other prefectures.


Evacuation instruction zones in Fukushima Prefecture  as of 14 March 2017

Municipalities	Evacuation order cancellation preparation zone	Restricted residence zone	Difficult-to-return zone
Minamisoma City	cancelled on 12 July 2016	cancelled on 12 July 2016	Part of city (including part of Kanaya(Odaka Ward), etc.)
Iitate Village	cancelled on 31 March 2017	cancelled on 31 March 2017	Nagadoro district
Yamakiya district, Kawamata Town	cancelled on 31 March 2017	cancelled on 31 March 2017	None
Katsurao Village	cancelled on 12 June 2016	cancelled on 12 June 2016	Noyuki district
Namie Town	cancelled on 31 March 2017	cancelled on 31 March 2017	Ide, Omaru, Obori, Sakai, Suenomori, Murohara, Tsushima, Minamitsushima, Kawabusa, Hirusone, Shimotsushima, Akougi, Hatsuke
Futaba Town	Morotake, Nakano, Nakahama	None	Whole area except Morotake, Nakano, Nakahama
Okuma Town	Nakayashiki district	Ogawara district	Whole area except Nakayashiki, Ogawara districts
Tomioka Town	cancelled on 1 April 2017	cancelled on 1 April 2017	Part of town (including Osuge, Oragahama, Yonomori, Sakura, etc.)

Data sources and references

Japanese version:
Cabinet Office, Government Of Japan, 2011. 東北地方太平洋沖地震を教訓とした地震・津波対策に関する専門調査会（第１回）, 資料3-2 今回の津波被害の概要. [pdf] Cabinet Office, Government Of Japan. Available at:
http://www.bousai.go.jp/kaigirep/chousakai/tohokukyokun/1/pdf/3-2.pdf
[Accessed 8 March 2017].

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2012.「東日本大震災水道施設被害状況調査報告書（平成23年度災害査定資料整理版）」について,２．４　津波による浸水状況 [pdf] Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.Available at:
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/topics/bukyoku/kenkou/suido/houkoku/suidou/dl/121214_024.pdf
[Accessed 8 March 2017].

Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, 2011. 国土地理院東日本大震災調査報告会, 津波による浸水状況-平成23年東北地方太平洋沖地震- [pdf] Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Available at:
http://www.gsi.go.jp/common/000061103.pdf
[Accessed 8 March 2017].

Cabinet Office, Government Of Japan. 2017. 緊急災害対策本部とりまとめ報「平成23年（2011年）東北地方太平洋沖地震（東日本大震災）について」（平成29年3月8日14:00現在） [pdf] Cabinet Office, Government Of Japan. Available at:
http://www.bousai.go.jp/2011daishinsai/pdf/torimatome20170308.pdf
[Accessed 12 March 2017].

Yutaka Honkawa, 2011.
社会実情データ図録（http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/honkawa/）
「東日本大震災で確認された津波の高さ」
http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/honkawa/4363b.html

English version:

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Government of Japan. 2012. "Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake By the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Government of Japan" (10th ASEAN and Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies)  [pdf] Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Government of Japan. Available at:
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/bunya/kokusaigyomu/asean/2012/dl/Introduction_Dr.Yamauchi.pdf
 [Accessed 12 March 2017].