Deadly Tohoku Tsunami – Before and After Images
Sendai’s Higashi-Matsushima Airport Inundated by Tsunami Floods
This radar image, obtained with the German Earth-observation satellite TerraSAR-X on 12 March 2011 at 21:43 CET, shows the effect of the tsunami on Higashi-Matsushima Airport and the port of Ishinomaki in the Sendai region on the east coast of Japan. The blue areas indicate flooding; the magenta-coloured areas reveal the extent of the destruction. Credit: DLR. Click image to enlarge (2.9MB)
The port of Sendai after the tsunami
Click image to enlarge (3.25MB)
Impact of the deadly Tohoku tsunami shown in a 12 March 2011 satellite image. The ‘before’ image is added for comparison. Credit: DLR/Rapid Eye. Click image to enlarge.
Death Toll Update
About 8,200 have perished, with another 12,300 people missing. Japanese police say as many as 15.000 people may have been killed in Miyagi prefecture alone.
Radiation Update
Taiwanese officials have found contamination in a batch of fava beans exported from Japan, although the amount, they said, was too small to be pose any threat to human health.
Links to DLR Satellite Images
Disaster Extent Map – Japan – Sendai Region
- Low resolution map (JPEG, 796.74 KB)
- Medium resolution map (JPEG, 1.92 MB)