With the proliferation of camera phones in the last decade, people continue to single-handedly capture events like this one and the 2004 tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands. Today, we see that same thing happening.
News agencies are posting user video and digital stills all over the Web in a fury to show people's first-hand accounts of the destruction.
from YouTube from user kirakirayuji, which shows a rattling house as a family tries to escape.
And this video really shows the force of the quake. Directly after the quake, user posted . The building appear to be built to sway, a modern earthquake engineering design that is used in many buildings, especially in California.
A tsunami warning was issued and from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) graphically shows the expected wave lengths of the tsunami as it moved across the Pacific after the giant earthquake.
from the Twitter feed of shows an aerial view of the Sendai Airport in Sendai, Japan, which was hit by the tsunami caused by the earthquake.
And by shows the tsunami rushing the shore.
Posted on Gizmodo, but originating , Jason Fullington, who was there, documented his experience surviving the earthquake from his office in Tokyo. He says, "At 2:46 p.m. Japan time it hit! When it started I thought it was just another tremor like we have frequently here. But it got strong and stronger. I was at my desk at the office just whipping through a few order rips for Icon Moto. My monitor would have fallen off the desk had I not grabbed it (it's a 40 inch TV monitor). This shaker kept building in strength, I have never felt one like this in 9+ years of living in Japan. I yelled to my staff, "GET OUT OF THE BUILDING NOW!" We all darted to the parking lot. And it was still shaking about 30 seconds into it! You could see the ground rolling, my van was literally jumping off the ground, car sirens blaring, telephone and electric poles waving violently." .