Abstract
On March 11, 2011, at 14:46 local time, a powerful earthquake occurred off the Sanriku coast of northeastern Japan. It was immediately apparent that this was the strongest earthquake on the historical record, and the resulting series of tsunami ravaged the Tohoku region. In Iwate Prefecture, the tsunami height generally exceeded the design tsunami level for safety, which had been determined on the basis of the Meiji-Sanriku tsunami (1896), the Showa-Sanriku tsunami (1933), and the Chile tsunami (1960). As of Jan. 30, the number of dead and missing in Iwate rose to 5993. Over 24,000 buildings had been destroyed. After the Showa-Sanriku, disaster prevention facilities were built along the coast. However, many tsunami seawalls and water gates suffered enormous damage from the impact of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami. This paper sketches out the characteristics and scope of the damage in the coastal areas of Iwate Prefecture.
