ASCE Golden Gate Chapter Dinner Meeting – Findings from

the M9.0 Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

On October 27th Liftech’s Yoshi Oritatsu and Halcrow’s Marc Percher gave a presentation at the
ASCE Golden Gate Chapter Dinner meeting about their findings from their earthquake and
tsunami reconnaissance trip to Japan. Representing the COPRI Ports and Harbor Structures team,
Mr. Oritatsu and Mr. Percher discussed the damage observed at various port facilities, the impact
on operations and recovery efforts, the response of port authorities, and the lessons learned from
this disastrous event.
During their trip, Mr. Oritatsu and Mr. Percher observed various levels of damage to various types
of structures. Gravity concrete structures, such as sea walls and tsunami breakwater structures,
experienced severe damage, as did light structures, such as pipes and tanks. Many of these
structures have a large surface area-to-weight ratio, and suffered from the pressure of the
tsunami. In contrast, heavy equipment with small surface areas, such as gantry cranes, typically
had no apparent structural damage. Some crane structures were knocked over by vessels during
the tsunami. Despite the large magnitude of the earthquake and tsunami, most wharf structures
performed well.
Photos courtesy of ASCE

Soil Failure at Sendai Container Terminal

 Tsunami Floated Tank at Ishinomaki Port
Simple Mechanics Varec® float and tape tank gauges are often referred to as ‘float and tape devices’
due to the manner in which the product level is measured (or gauged). This simple design has changed
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