Categories: Technology

Google’s Earth satellite photographs SOS written on the ground in tsunami hit village

Google’s Earth satellites have photographed a singular plea for help from the people of the tsunami stricken town of Minamisanriku, Japan.

Credit: Google, GeoEye © 2011

Click here to see a larger version of this image.

This SOS messages was written in the grounds of the Shizugawa High School’s football field after the tsunami hit the village early on Friday. Minamisanriku is located in the north east of Japan, in direct line of Friday’s 9 metre (30 feet) high tsunami. The finishing village, which sites at the apex of a ‘V’ shaped cove was one of the first, and worst hit, areas of Japan.

Residence of the village caught on film the tsunami as it struck.


Japanese authorities located 2,000 people from the village, although some 8,000 are still missing.

Google Earth also recorded images of the town, taken 9 years ago. The image below shows the Shizugawa High School and surrounding area intact.

Credit: Google, GeoEye © 2011

Click here to see a larger version of this images.

An interactive version of this image can be seen below.

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Google has been recording the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami since Friday’s events.

Ajit Jain

Ajit Jain is marketing and sales head at Octal Info Solution, a leading iPhone app development company and offering platform to hire Android app developers for your own app development project. He is available to connect on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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