Tsunami hit Japan 2011. 15897 dead.

A magnitude-8.9 earthquake hit northeastern Japan on Friday, generating a tsunami as high as 10 metres that hit the coast of Miyagi prefecture, officials said. At least 15,899 deaths, 6,157 injured, and 2,529 people missing including a number of children who were sucked into the sea, the public broadcaster NHK reported. 

Waves swamped buildings and swept away cars, boats, crops and even buildings. People gathered on the roofs of inundated buildings and houses. Women waved white handkerchiefs from windows, seeking help. NHK showed footage of submerged vehicles in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, as the tsunami hit the city's coast and of many houses in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, being washed away by quake-generated waves. High tsunami waves also hit Hiroo on Hokkaido, Japan's northern island. The agency warned more waves up to 4 metres high would hit the coast of eastern Japan.

A tsunami advisory was issued in wide swathes of the eastern coast and around the Pacific.

The quake was earlier reported at magnitude 7.9 by Japan's Meteorological Agency. The US Geological Survey upgraded it to 8.9 on the Richter scale. The quake, which hit at 2.46pm shook buildings in Tokyo violently and some caught fire.

The US Geological Survey said the initial quake was followed by at least eight large aftershocks, the strongest measuring magnitude 7.1 and striking 40 minutes after the first tremor. Media reported extensive damage to buildings in and around Tokyo and the collapse of roofs on Tokyo buildings.NHK showed footage of fire at petrochemical complexes in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

Narita International Airport and airports in Senda, Iwate Hanamaki, Aomori and Yamagata were closed, the Jiji Press agency said. NHK showed footage of the Sendai Airport submerged. Nuclear power stations on the Pacific coast in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures shut down operations automatically after the quake hit.

More than 4.5 million households experienced power outages in the metropolitan area, Tokyo Electric Power Co said. Almost all the households in eastern Japan experienced power failures, NHK said.Japanese train service, including bullet trains, were suspended in northeastern and central Japan.

We believe Toyota likely lost production of roughly 300,000 vehicles in Japan and 100,000 overseas from mid-March through the end of April. April vehicle sales plummeted 69%, and we think the company may post a loss of nearly $2 billion for the quarter ending June 30th. Inventory at overseas plants will likely be depleted sometime during the second quarter, and production probably won’t return to normal until November or December. In fact, production at all its Japanese plants has only been running at about half capacity since April 18th.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii issued tsunami warnings for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas and tsunami watches for Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii, Guam and other Pacific islands.