Japan Tsunamis 1896
Tag:
tsunami, tsunami history, tsunami photos, tsunami pictures, tsunami videos, tusunami
On
June 15 1896, an earthquake occurred of the coast near the Japanese
port city of Sanriku. The earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the
Richter scale, triggered the formation a massive tsunami that
devastated the city killing over 26,000 people. The tsunami waves
reached an intimidating height of 25 meters (80 feet) as it crashed
upon a crowd that had gathered in a city to celebrate a religious
festival. The tsunami was also observed across the Pacific: In Hawaii,
wharves were demolished and several houses were swept away. In
California, a 9.5 feet wave was observed, according to the San
Francisco Chronicle of June 16, 1896. This Sanriku tsunami served as
an impetus for tsunami research in Japan.
What is unusual about this disaster is that the size of the tsunami
was much larger than would be expected from the size of the earthquake,
7.2 on the Richter scale. At the time of the Sanriku tsunami
earthquake, a weak shock was felt, followed by an extremely slow
shaking that lasted about 5 minutes. Approximately 35 minutes after the
earthquake, the large tsunami arrived at the Sanriku coast.
