A tsunami spawned by the Great East Japan Earthquake crested as high as a 10-story building in Miyako in Iwate Prefecture, according to a group of tsunami researchers.
A tsunami spawned by the Great East Japan Earthquake crested as high as a 10-story building in Miyako in Iwate Prefecture, according to a group of tsunami researchers.
The highest wave, at 40.5 meters above sea level, was observed in the Omoe Aneyoshi area of Miyako.
Nobuhito Mori, associate professor of unusual waves at Kyoto University's Disaster Prevention Research Institute, reported the findings at a meeting of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers' Kansai branch on May 30.
"We hope the data we will provide will be used to draw up rebuilding plans," he said.
The researchers, comprising 147 scientists at 48 research organs of universities and construction companies, including the University of Tokyo, Tohoku University, Nagoya University and the University of Tokushima, have worked since March 12, the day after the nation's worst postwar disaster.
They have covered about 3,600 sites across the nation to determine the extent of affected areas and the height of waves in the tsunami.
In Miyako, the tsunami's height was determined by tree branches and other objects that were stuck on trees on the slope about 520 meters inland from the shoreline.
Researchers believe the height of tsunami was amplified in the area because it is located inside the bay.
In Miyagi Prefecture, traces of the tsunami were observed at a location about 11 kilometers inland from the sea.
According to the researchers, waves that reached inland after spilling over gigantic breakwaters in Kamaishi Bay in Iwate Prefecture were considerably lower than waves in other bays, showing the fortifications had some effect.
The group will publicize its findings on the tsunami at (http://www.coastal.jp/ttjt).