A View of debris and mud covered at Tsunami hit Destroyed mine town in Kamaishi on March 25, 2011, Japan. On 11 March 2011, an earthquake hit Japan with a magnitude of 9.0, the biggest in the nation's recorded history and one of the five most powerful recorded ever around the world. Within an hour of the earthquake, towns which lined the shore were flattened by a massive tsunami, caused by the energy released by the earthquake. With waves of up to four or five metres high, they crashed through civilians homes, towns and fields.