Gaiety Media

New footage has surfaced from the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, and the incredible enhanced video shows the terrifying destructive power of the tsunami.

The tsunami was directly caused by the magnitude 9.0 'megathrust' earthquake that struck off the coast just half an hour before, at around 2:45 p.m. Japan local time. The sudden movement of that much earth all at once set off a shockwave through the water that not only hit the Japanese coast, but also made it all the way to North and South America. As the video shows, the incoming tsunami pulled all the water ahead of it out to sea, draining the coastline and rivers down to their bottom, before the wave itself came crashing in, destroying entire communities and pushing tons of debris along with it.

Of the nearly 16 thousand people who lost their lives in this tragic disaster, it's estimated that over 90% of them were killed by the tsunami, and over 2,600 people are still missing and assumed dead.

The awesome power of this event is still shocking, even more than two years after it happened.