[Picture] Tsunami hits Japan after massive quake

     The quake started at 2:46 p.m. local time about 80 miles off the Japanese coast and some 15 miles under the Pacific, seemingly pushing the seabed under the country in a series of shocks felt from the northernmost region to the southern tip, including Tokyo.

 

tsunami japan quake

 

tsunami japan quake

tsunami japan quake

 tsunami japan quake

 

The superquake, the most powerful to hit Japan in more than 100 years, dwarfed the temblor that killed 6,400 people in Kobe in 1995, although casualties have been far fewer because the epicenter was offshore. Tsunami warnings were issued for more than a dozen countries and territories, including Papua New Guinea, Australia, Taiwan, Russia’s coastal area, the Marshall Islands, parts of South and Central America, Hawaii, and New Zealand where a 6.3-magnitude earthquake devastated the city of Christchurch last month, killing 166.