Title: Learning from Megadisasters: Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake
Abstract: On March 11, 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred in the Pacifi c Ocean off the coast of Japan's Tohoku region.The quake shook the ground as far away as western Japan and lasted for several minutes.A half-hour later, a tsunami of unprecedented force broke over 650 kilometers (km) of coastline (map O.1), toppling sea walls and other defenses, fl ooding more than 500 square kilometers (km 2 ) of land, and washing away entire towns and villages.The devastation left some 20,000 people dead or missing, with most of the deaths caused by drowning (table O.1).The tsunami leveled 130,000 houses and severely damaged 270,000 more.About 270 railway lines ceased operation immediately following the disaster, and 15 expressways, 69 national highways, and 638 prefectural and municipal roads were closed.Some 24,000 hectares of agricultural land were fl ooded.The areas worst hit were the Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures. 1 Map O.1 The tsunami struck a wide area of Japan