CNN 2011-03-15

We're dedicating this edition of CNN Student News to our audience in Japan. The world is watching in support, and you are not alone.

The nation of Japan is reeling today, trying to recover from a devastating 1 natural disaster. The earthquake hit the island nation on Friday. It registered a magnitude of 8.9. That makes it the most powerful quake to hit Japan in at least 100 years. There were reports over the weekend that the quake moved the main of island of Japan -- the entire island -- by 8 feet!

And this is what it left behind: scenes of destruction. On Sunday, officials estimated that more than 1,500 people had been killed; more than 1,900 injured; more than 1,500 more missing. Those estimates all expected to go up. And the worst may not be over. Witnesses have reported feeling aftershocks. And scientists in Japan say that there's a strong chance of another quake, one with a magnitude of 7.0 or higher, hitting in the next few days.

Just to get a sense of what this was like, take a listen to this iReport. This was shot by someone outside his house. You can hear the crashes as the area is rattled 2 by the quake. Something just as devastating as the quake was the tsunami 3 -- this giant ocean wave -- that the quake caused. It slammed into the Japanese coast, washing over cities and leaving death and destruction behind it.

The northeastern part of the country took the worst of it. This is what the water looked like rushing into one city. Some areas were completely flattened 4, with foundations the only sign of the buildings that once stood on them. You might think of a tsunami as this towering tidal wave that crashes down on shore. That's not what this was. Tsunamis 5 are more accurately 6 described as these "walls of water" that push onto shore and plow 7 through anything they hit. Scientists believe that when there's friction 8 between two plates below the ocean's surface, like in an earthquake, energy is released. That energy shoots up to the surface, spreads out in a wave. And it travels very fast, as fast as 500 miles per hour! You can see it spreading right here.

Now, if you're in a boat out at sea, you might not even feel it. It's incredibly powerful, but not necessarily very high. But look at what happens when that wave gets closer to shore: it slows down and builds up. And that wall of water just bulldozes inland. Look at how this tsunami wave spread. This animation 9 shows you just how far these things can travel. It stretched out in all directions, spanning the Pacific Ocean. It hit Hawaii, causing millions of dollars in damage there. And it even reached the California coast, 5,000 miles from the area near Japan where the quake hit. And when the wave did reach Santa Cruz, California, it was still strong enough to do this: boats tossed like toys in the tub. It's not nearly as destructive as what happened in Japan, but a clear illustration of ocean energy radiated across the world.

Trying to put the impact of this earthquake in perspective. Japan's prime minister, Naoto Kan, called it "the toughest and most difficult crisis" for his country since the end of World War II, more than 65 years ago. He said he's confident that the Japanese people can work together to overcome the crisis. That could include making sacrifices, like dealing 10 with electrical blackouts for one thing. The government is planning to run these rolling blackouts in order to save electricity while workers repair power plants. But Prime Minister Kan says right now, Japan has one main goal.