#Japan #Earthquake: 75-Foot Tsunami in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture

Iwate Nippo (local newspaper in Iwate Prefecture, in Japanese; 3/20/2011) reports:

Tsunami that hit Sanriku-cho in Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture was as high as 23 meters (75 feet), according to the survey done by Port and Airport Research Institute in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. [Port and Airport Research Institute is a quasi-government agency.]

Survey results for tsunami height in other cities and ports in Iwate Prefecture:

Chaya-mae in Ofunato City: 9 - 9.5 meters (30 - 31 feet)
Nagasaki Fishing Port in Ofunato City: 11 meters (36 feet)
Kamaishi Port, Kamaishi City: 7 - 8 meters (23 - 26 feet)
Kuji Port: 13 meters (43 feet)
Hachinohe Port: 8 meters (26 feet)

In Miyagi,
Onagawa Port (near Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant): 15 meters (49 feet)

Now, no one is publicly saying how high was the tsunami that hit Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Quickly checking Google Earth, the elevation of the plant where the reactors are located is between 50 and 60 feet; and yet we hear that there are extensive damages from tsunami.

Some Japanese blogs say it was 14-meter (45-foot) tsunami that hit the Plant, twice the height for which the plant was designed, or 7 meters (23 feet).

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