2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku (東北地方太平洋沖地震, Tōhoku-chihō Taiheiyō Oki Jishin), often referred to in Japan as Higashi nihon daishinsai (東日本大震災^?)^[7] and also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake,^[8] the Great East Japan Earthquake,^{[9][10][fn 1]} and the 3.11 Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.03 (M_w) undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March 2011,^[2][3][11] with the epicentre approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku and the hypocenter at an underwater depth of approximately 32 km (20 mi).^[2][12] It was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and one of the five most powerful earthquakes in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900.^[11][13][14] The earthquake triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture,^[15][16] and which, in the Sendai area, travelled up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.^[17] The earthquake moved Honshu (the main island of Japan) 2.4 m (8 ft) east and shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 cm (4 in) and 25 cm (10 in).^[18][19][20]

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami