Visualizations of the Okushiri Tsunami

Aonae Cape, Okushiri Island

On July 12. 1993, a powerful earthquake west of Hokkaido in the Sea of Japan unleashed a tsunami that devastated nearby Okushiri Island. The video you will see here shows Aonae Cape, a small peninsula that points south off of Okushiri. The peninsula was completely overtopped by the giant wave, to heights of over 10 m. (the largest recorded wave runup on the island was nearly 30 m!) In the image above, the wave approached from the left and swept over the land. Structures remaining after the wave attack were destroyed by the fires that engulfed the area due to broken gas lines and toppled fuel containers.