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Damage to Coastal Vegetation Due to the 2011 Tsunami in Northeast
Japan and Subsequent Restoration Process:Analyses Using Remotely Sensed Data
Keitarou HARA
Faculty of Informatics, Tokyo University of Information Sciences
4-1 Onaridai, Wakaba-ku, Chiba, 265-8501 Japane-mail: hara@rsch.tuis.ac.jp

Abstract
This study used remote sensing data and field research to analyze the damage to vegetation caused by theGreat East Japan Earthquake and subsequent huge tsunami that struck the coast of eastern Tohoku on March
11, 2011. The damage sustained by four basic types of vegetation: coastal cliff, sandy beach, coastal forest,and marsh, is analyzed and compared based on both field research and remote sensing. The results show thatplants along rocky coasts survived relatively intact, but coastal forests and other vegetation on sandy beaches
and other low-lying coasts were severely damaged. In many cases the combination of land subsidence and theforce of the tsunami completely stripped away the physical substrate or left the area inundated after the wave
had retreated. Continuous monitoring using field work and remote sensing is required for creating balanced
regional recovery strategies that provide for economic and social recovery as well as restoration of vegetation,
biodiversity and vital ecosystem services.
Key words: disturbance, Great East Japan Earthquake, remote sensing, tsunami, vegetation

1. Introduction
The Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequenttsunami struck the Pacific coast of eastern Japan on
March 11, 2011, causing severe damage over a widespread area. The tsunami raced several kilometers inland
across coastal plains and along river valleys, especiallyalong the Kitakami River in Miyagi Prefecture, where thewater reached as far as 49 km from the sea (The 2011
Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami Joint Survey Group, 2011).
In addition, the earthquake caused severe ground subsidence in some coastal areas, which remained underwater
even after the tsunami had receded. At Oshika in Miyagi
Prefecture, near the epicenter of the earthquake, theground subsided 120 cm (Okada, 2012). The entire shapeof the coastal topography was drastically altered (The2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami Joint Survey Group,
2011; Mori et al., 2012; Tanaka et al., 2012; Udo et al.,2012). This great disaster caused enormous damage tolife, property and infrastructure. Coastal vegetation in theregion was also severely disturbed. Studies of the 2004
Tsunami in Aceh and southern Thailand showed thatsevere disturbance to coastal vegetation resulted in that
region as well (Mascarenhas & Jayakumar, 2008; Ranjan
et al., 2008).This research employs the results of on-site
field research and remote sensing data of various resoluGlobal Environmental Research
18/2014: 27-34
printed in Japan

tions to analyze the damage to coastal vegetation in the
Tohoku district caused by the 2011 disaster.

2. Study Area
The Pacific Ocean coast of the Tohoku district, innorthern Honshu, suffered the greatest damage (Fig. 1).
This region, comprising Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima
prefectures, consists of two ancient mountain ranges, theKitakami Mountains in the north and the Abukuma
Mountains in the south, with the Sendai Plain locatedbetween the two mountain regions (Fig. 2). North of
Sendai Bay, the Kitakami Mountains extend all the way
to the coastline, which is subsiding. As the land subsides,
former river valleys are inundated, forming a series oflong narrow inlets that are separated by rocky promontories, in what is known as a rias coast. Narrow sectionsof alluvial plain, which are used as agricultural andresidential land, as well as small tidal flats and sandy
beaches, form around the river mouths at the heads of theinlets. The narrow inlets are also dotted with numerous
islands of various sizes, as well as many small fishingports.
Both the Kitakami and Abukuma Rivers, as well as
many smaller rivers, empty into the Pacific Ocean at
Sendai Bay. Sendai itself is the largest and most©2014 AIRIES28

K. HARA

Fig. 1 Map of the eastern Tohoku District

important city in the region. The outer coastlines along
Sendai Bay are comprised primarily of sandy beaches
and sand barriers, with extensive coastal wetlands
developing at the river mouths and behind the barriers.
Matsushima Bay consists of numerous islands and small
islets, which are the remains of a former coastline thathas since submerged. Slightly inland from the coast there
is a levee, beyond which low-lying marshes have been
drained, diked and converted into rice paddies, vegetable
fields and residential land (Aono & Birukawa, 1975).
Prior to the tsunami, the eastern Tohoku coast supported a rich variety of coastal vegetation. The primary
forest cover in the Tohoku District is deciduous broadleaved forest dominated by Fagus crenata, F. japonica
and Quercus crispula. Along the coast, however,broad-leaved evergreen trees reach the northern limit of
their distribution. Small scattered patches of Castanopsis
sieboldii and evergreen oaks such as Quercus
myrsinifolia and Q. acuta grow as far north as northern
Miyagi and southern Iwate Prefecture, while substantial
stands of evergreen broad-leaved forest dominated by
Machillus thunbergii form on islands in the rias inlets all
the way north to central Iwate Prefecture. Pine forests
develop on coastal bluffs and dunes, while other sectionsof the coast support deciduous woodlands of Zelkova
serrate, Acer pictum and Tilia japonica (Hara, 2012a).
The coastal vegetation in the region is extremely diverse,reflecting local influences from natural factors such as
topography, soil, sunlight and wind, as well as fromvarious cultural factors.

3. Data
The enormous earthquake and tsunami caused
tremendous destruction over a widespread area, andoccurred in a time and place when various recording
devices were in widespread use. The sheer amount ofvisual data recorded and available is thus far greater thanfor any previous disaster. Soon afterwards numerous
aerial survey firms began filming the region, and a large
number of aerial photographs were taken and madeavailable. Substantial GPS data was also collected onland and in the air, enabling specialists to analyze thechanges in topography.
Remotely sensed satellite data are also an effective
tool for analyzing landscape changes caused by thedisaster. Data for the region were collected periodicallyfrom the time before the disaster, and intensive satellite
monitoring was implemented afterwards. As a result, alarge amount of data is now available. The remote sensing data employed in this research include wide-scale
250 m terrestrial resolution MODIS from NASA’s Terra/
Aqua satellite; fine-scale 1.0 m resolution IKONOS data
and 0.5 m resolution GeoEye-1; digital aerial photographs; and airborne LiDAR. These data were combinedwith the results of various field studies and research
projects carried out after the disaster.
Fig. 2 Topography of the Tohoku District

Vegetation Damage Caused by Tsunami

29

4. Damage to Coastal Vegetation
The damage suffered by coastal vegetation varied
according to local topography and orientation with regard
to the direction of the tsunami. Figure 3 shows a MODIS
image of the Tohoku district on March 14, 2011, after thedisaster, with the submerged area indicated in sky blue.
4.1 Coastal cliffs
The rocky promontories that bound the rias inlets consist primarily of steep cliffs. According to Takayama(1987a,b, 1989), vegetation on this type of coastal landform is divided into several zones. The areas closest to
the splash zone are dominated by species common totidal wetlands, as well as annual and biennial herbaceous
plants such as Juncus gracillimus, Puccinellia nipponica,
Sagina maxima and Lysimachia mauritiana. Next is azone characterized by perennials such as Chrysanthemum japonica, Boehmeria biloba, Phedimus aizoon var.
floribundus (Fig. 4a) and Lilium maculatum; followed by
Miscanthus sinensis and other grasses near the top of thecliff. Above that is a zone of hardy shrubs such as
Pittosporum tobira (Fig. 4b), Juniperus chinensis andViburnum dilatatum. The hills beyond the cliff areforested with Pinus densiflora; and the islets in the bays
support plant communities centered on Machilus
thunbergii.
The lower two vegetation zones along this coast,
which develop in the areas hit directly by the tsunami, areaccustomed to periodic inundation by waves and salt
spray. The plants in these zones have thus adapted totolerate salt water, and as such were not severely damaged by inundation by the tsunami. In addition, thedisaster occurred during the winter dormant period,
which also helped to limit damage to the plants. As aresult, with the exception of some areas where the rocky
substrate itself was physically destroyed, damage to ecosystems along these coasts was minimal (Hara, 2012b;
Hara et al., 2012; Ooue, 2012).
4.2 Sandy beaches and barriers
As can be seen in Fig. 3, large areas of coastline along
Sendai Bay, as well as the shallow wetlands at the headsof the rias inlets, were completely inundated. The lower
zones of sandy beaches in this region are dominatedby perennials such as Carex kobomugi, Calystegia
soldanella, Lathyrus japonicus, Glehnia littoralis andIxeris repens (Fig. 5a). Landward of these, where thesubstrate is more stable and more moisture is available,
are found low shrubs such as Rosa rugosa (Fig. 5b) andJuniperus conferta (Suzuki, 1987). The sandy beaches
also support a number of bees, beetles and other insects
unique to these plant communities (Nagahata, 2012).
Even before the disaster, coastal engineering works
such as jetties and wave-breaks had disrupted the sandy
coastal environments in many areas. The tsunami struck
all of the sandy beaches in the region, but the degree ofdamage fluctuated from place to place. Along the Sendai
Bay shoreline, for example, damage to the beaches that

Fig. 3 MODIS image of Tohoku District after disaster.
Analysis results for March 14, 2011 image, withsubmerged areas shown in sky blue.
(a)

(b)

Fig. 4 Typical plants of rocky cliffs.
(Photographed at Arajima Island, Minami-Sanriku Town, September 15, 2011)(a) The vegetation in the perennial zone has survived the tsunami, with
Phedimus aizoon var. floribundus blooming during the following
summer.
(b) Pittosporum tobira surviving in the shrub zone.

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K. HARA

fronted the seawall appears to have been minimal. The
tsunami passed over these areas, swirling the top sediment but leaving the substrate intact. In these areas,
vegetation was already recovering during the summer of2011 (Hirabuki et al., 2011). In contrast, in areas that
(a)

(b)

Fig. 5 Typical vegetation of a sandy coast ecosystem.
(Photographed near Arahama, Sendai City, September 20, 2012)(a) Sandy beach recovering a little more than a year after thedisaster, with Ixeris repens in bloom.
(b) A Rosa rugosa shrub.

experienced substantial ground subsidence the entire
substrate was washed away. Sandy shorelines at theheads of the rias inlets also suffered heavy physicaldamage (Hayasaka et al., 2012).
4.3 Coastal forests
Before the disaster, groves of Pinus thunbergii had
been planted along extensive areas of the eastern Tohoku
coastline. These groves were planted to stabilize thesandy substrate and to block salt spray. The pine forest at
Rikuzen-takata has been shown to have mitigated damage from past tsunamis (Ishikawa, 1992). These pine
forests also supported a rich ecosystem, but wereseverely damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. A totalof 3,660 ha of coastal forest were inundated by thetsunami. About a third of this area, totaling 1,072 ha,suffered more than 75% damage. The greatest damage
occurred in Miyagi Prefecture (750 ha) (Committee for
Restoration of Disaster Prevention Coastal Forests
Damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake, 2012).
The extent of damage suffered by pine forests varied
according to local topography and height of the tsunami.
Those on the sandy shorelines at the heads of inlets along
the rias coast were devastated by the powerful tsunami,with most of the trees broken or washed away. Of thefamous 70,000 pines at Rikuzen-Takata, only one,growing on slightly higher ground, was left standing(Figs. 6, 7).
On the Sendai Plain, pines were first planted along the
Teizan-bori, a banked canal dug parallel to the coast,
about 400 years ago. Later the plantings were expanded
to include both the landward and seaward sides of thecanal. The pre-disaster extent of this magnificent pine
forest can be seen in the left-side images of Fig. 8.
According to research conducted by the Hirabuki et al.
(2011) and Tomita et al. (2012; 2013), many of theshorter pines seaward of the Teizan-bori were bent overor broken, while taller trees on the high banks along thecanal survived much better (Fig. 8). Landward of thecanal, strips of pine forest survived in narrow comb-like
strips running perpendicular to the coast and the direction

Fig. 6 Damage to coastal vegetation at Rikuzen-Takata.
Near infrared band applied to false color composite images with vegetated areas shown in red. The dense pine forest along the coastat the head of the inlet has completely disappeared. ©GeoEye/JSI

Vegetation Damage Caused by Tsunami(a)31of the wave. This pattern can be clearly seen in theright-side images of Fig. 8, and in the photograph of
Fig. 9. This area landward of the canal was originally a
low-lying back marsh that had been filled in and plantedwith pines. Pinus thunbergii and P. densiflora naturally
prefer to sink deep roots into dry sandy soils. In this thickmarshy soil, however, the roots were unable to penetrate
downwards, and were forced to spread outwards. This
reduced the stability of the trees and their ability towithstand the force of the wave. The high water table inthis area is attested to by the appearance of reeds in spots
where the trees were destroyed. A similar pattern has
been confirmed in research by Kamagata et al. (2013),
which employed aerial photographs (Fig. 10) and airborne LiDAR (Fig. 11) to analyze changes in vegetationin this same area. This research also confirmed that withthe exception of a few wilted trees, most of the forest
patches that survived the tsunami in a comb-like pattern
running perpendicular to the coast are still viable morethan two years after the disaster (Fig. 10f). In addition thebright red colors (“A”) seen in the July 10, 2012 image(Fig. 10d) indicate that by this time the herbaceous andshrub layers dominated by Robinia pseudoacacia werealso recovering.

(b)

Fig. 7 Photographs showing damage to the pine forest at
Rikuzen-Takata. (Photographed July 5, 2012)(a) Devastated pine forest.
(b) Only one tree was left standing.

4.4 Marshes
Extensive back marshes had developed at rivermouths and behind the coastal sand barriers of Sendai
Bay. Research at Gamo Lagoon showed that large areasof reed marsh were completely destroyed (Kanaya, 2012).
In many areas these wetlands had been dredged and filled
to make rice paddies or residential land. The remaining
brackish water marshes, however, supported rich biodiversity, including many rare or endangered species.
On some sections of the coast the huge tsunami
topped the seawall and crashed into the back marshes.
The waves also swept inland along the rivers, completely
inundating marshes. In addition, as the coast subsided

Fig. 8 Photographs showing damage to a coastal pine forest along the coast of Sendai Bay.
Near infrared band applied to false color composite images with vegetated areas shown in red. The strip of pine forest running parallel to thecoast has almost completely disappeared. The dense pine forest along the Teizan-bori Canal has been decimated by the tsunami, but some trees
remain along the raised banks of the canal, as well as in narrow strips to the landward side. ©GeoEye/JSI32

K. HARA

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 9 Damage to a coastal pine forest along the coast of Sendai Bay.
(Photographed May 14, 2011)(a) Remaining pine trees along the raised banks of the Teizan-bori Canal.
(b) Bent and broken trees in the foreground, with narrow strip of surviving trees behind.
(c) Reeds appearing in an inundated area landward of the canal.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

Fig. 10 Damage to and survival of a pine forest along the coast of Sendai Bay analyzed
using digital aerial photographs (after Kamagata et al., 2013).
(a) March 30, 2011(d) July 10, 2012(b) October 29, 2011(e) December 28, 2012(c) April 12, 2012(f) April 1, 2013

Vegetation Damage Caused by Tsunami

(a)

(b)

33

(c)

Fig. 11 Shadow maps compiled from LiDAR data, showing damage and survival of a pine forest along thecoast of Sendai Bay (after Kamagata et al., 2013).
(a) December 15, 2006(b) October 29, 2011(c) July 10, 2012

due to the shock of the earthquake, some of the marshland remained submerged even after the tsunami had
retreated. The original fear was that the back marsh
vegetation had been irreparably destroyed, but some of
the inundated rice paddies have actually reverted back totheir original marsh habitat, and are now home to nativeaquatic plants.

5. Discussion
In terms of geographic extent and intensity, the Great
East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami was a disaster of theworst sort. As the current international usage of thisJapanese word indicates, Japan is especially susceptible
to large tsunamis. Research indicates that the Sendai Bay
region has been struck by similar scale tsunamis on acycle of about several hundred to 1000 years (Matsumoto,2011; Matsumoto & Kumagai, 2011; Hirakawa, 2012).
All of the past tsunamis must have wreaked great havocon the regional ecosystems. Research on previous disasters has focused on disaster mitigation and the damage tohuman lives and lifestyles. This time, however, there isalso a strong emphasis on the damage incurred by natural
ecosystems.
Research subsequent to the huge tsunami generated
by the Sumatra Earthquake of 2004 indicated that inmany areas the damage was mitigated by mangrove forests which grow along tropical and subtropical coasts(Dharanirajan et al., 2007; Mascarenhas & Jayakumar,
2008; Ranjan et al., 2008). With this example in mind,
the Japanese government, including the Ministry of theEnvironment, Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and
Fisheries and Ministry of Land Infrastructure Transport
and Tourism, as well as various NGOs and academic
societies, are now striving to understand the ecologicaldamage caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Ecological damage to coastal and terrestrial ecosystems can be classified into two basic types: direct physi-

cal damage to habitats and life forms, and subsequentdamage caused by salt water inundation (Hara & Higuchi,2013). In the case of the 2011 disaster, the entire regionallandscape, which can be thought of as a composite ofvarious ecosystems, was radically altered. Restoration ofthis landscape, in a manner compatible with recovery of
the regional society and lifestyles, is of paramount importance (Washitani, 2012).

6. Conclusions
The results of this research show that sandy beachvegetation, forests along low-lying coasts, and marshes
suffered severe damage. Rocky cliff vegetation, in contrast, sustained far less damage. The damage to vegetation throughout the region was mitigated somewhat by
the timing of the disaster, which occurred in late winter,when all the deciduous woody plants and herbaceousperennials in the region were still in a winter-dormant
state, and the seeds of herbaceous annuals had not yet
germinated. The scale of disruption may have been
greater still had the disaster occurred later, in a season
when all the plants were in full leaf.
This research also shows that in some areas the damaged vegetation is starting to recover. Detailed monitoring, employing both field work and remote sensing,should be used as a base for designing comprehensive
programs for restoration.

Acknowledgements
The author wish to thank Drs. Q. Li and N. Kamagata
for providing remotely sensed data, and Dr. Kevin Shortfor editorial assistance. This research was partly
supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 24510332.

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K. HARA

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Keitarou HARA
Keitarou HARA is a professor in the Department
of Informatics, Tokyo University of Information
Sciences. He received his Dr.Sc. degree in plant
ecology from Tohoku University in 1986. Hisinterests center on applications of remote sensing
and GIS to the study of vegetation and landscapesciences, and he has served as editor-in-chief ofthe IALE (International Association for Landscape Ecology) Japan Chapter(2000-2003) and president of the Japan Association for Landscape Ecology(2012-2015). He started surveying the recovery process of coastal vegetation using remote sensing after the Great East Japan Earthquake andTsunami of 2011.

(Received 20 April 2014, Accepted 4 July 2014)