The 11 March 2011, Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake, already among the most
destructive earthquakes in modern history, emanated from a fault rupture that extended an estimated 450 km along the Pacific coast of Honshu, the largest Japanese island. What makes some experts, including Hiroo Kanamori who has spent a lifetime studying subduction zone earthquakes, wonder is the size of the earthquake and the consequent unprecedented damage that it wreaked on the northeast coast of Japan (Science, 18 March 2011).

http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/10apr2011/966.pdf