DISTRIBUTION CHARACTERISTICS OF PINE TREES ALONG THE COAST OF SENDAI CITY SWEPT AWAY BY THE 2011 TOHOKU REGION TSUNAMI

As a result of the tsunami generated by the Pacific Offshore Earthquake on March 11, 2011 that occurred along the coast of the Tohoku region of Japan, most of the windbreak forests widely distributed along the coast were uprooted and swept away. Particularly, most of pine trees planted over a 500 m wide tract of land on the Sendai city coast of Miyagi prefecture were swept away and scattered inland more than 3 km. In this research, pine trees scattered in the region is measured by GIS analysis through aerial photographs taken immediately after the tsunami, showing the characteristic flow patterns of the tsunami by plotting the axis directions of the trees and the shelter effect of the vegetation. Most of the driftwood, reaching a total number of 21,054,is distributed 1 km to 3 km away from the coastline. Several cases show that sheltering effects of the pine trees prevent houses located behind it from collapsing.