Fire truck parked among debris and destruction in Ishinomaki city. Filmed in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi, Japan, on 15th March 2011. The Tohoku earthquake of 11th March 2011 was 9.0 on the Richter scale, and was the most powerful earthquake to have affected Japan since records began. It occurred off the country磗 northeast coast, and generated huge tsunami waves that rose up to 40 metres above sea level. More than 20,000 people are thought to have been killed.