The quake hit at 2:46 p.m local time about 230 miles off the coast of northern Japan near Sendai. A Wikipedia entry is already up, and they’re calling it the largest earthquake to hit Japan in recorded history. It looks pretty bad, although thankfully not “sink into the sea” bad.
But it looks bad enough:
This CNN story also has embedded footage of the tsunami coming inland carrying debris, boats and burning houses with it.
This NNK report is saying the tsunami waves were 10 meters high.
Compilation of live quake footage:
Here’s footage of the tsunami inundating a Japanese airport:
If there’s one comfort in this, Japan is very good at earthquake and tsunami preparation. If something this big hit, say, Haiti, just about everything on the island would be gone.