( CNN ) -- One year ago , the world watched as a massive tsunami engulfed entire communities in northern Japan . Live television footage showed waves as high as 30 feet rushing into coastal cities , tossing around boats , cars and rooftops just an hour after one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded . `` I thought Japan would disappear , '' one elderly survivor said in the immediate aftermath . `` I thought Japan would disappear under water . '' Earthquakes are not uncommon for Japan , which rests on one of the world 's most active fault lines . But the one that triggered the tsunami on March 11 , 2011 , had a magnitude of 9.0 , making it the fourth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 . `` My wife and I stood outside and basically held on to the outside of our house , '' resident Matt Alt said on the day of the quake . `` We could n't even stand up . We have never ever felt anything on the magnitude of what we experienced today . '' The videos from last year 's disaster are still astonishing today . One shows a man trapped in rushing waters , desperately clinging to a telephone wire . Another shows people running away from the tsunami , barely escaping before a wall of water barrels into their homes . Many other people , however , were not so lucky . As of Friday , the official death toll was 15,854 . An additional 3,167 people are still missing . The total damage from the disaster has been estimated at about 25 trillion yen , or $ 300 billion . `` The house you 're seeing here was n't here before , '' one man said , showing his neighborhood 's damage a week after the tsunami . `` It was swept here by the wave . The houses that were here were completely washed away . '' With the popularity of mobile phones in Japan , last year 's tsunami was one of the most recorded natural disasters in history . Amateur videos surfaced quickly , making it easier than ever for people around the world to empathize with the victims , said Tokyo-based technology consultant Steve Nagata . `` Because you had all of this very real footage , it made the incident much more real in people 's minds , '' Nagata recently told CNN 's Kyung Lah . `` They no longer have to imagine what a tsunami is . They saw it live . ... To be able to do this in near real time and to do it to audiences across the globe is unprecedented . '' Many people lost their homes in the tsunami but were fortunate to find shelter at nearby evacuation centers . In Ishinomaki , Japan , evacuees used old boxes to set up `` cardboard cities '' while they waited for temporary housing to be built . One of those evacuees , Yoshichi Suzuki , had a positive outlook as he stayed with his grandchildren at the shelter . Two months after the tsunami , Suzuki was nursing several plants that he had salvaged from his damaged home . `` They were washed away by the tsunami but still survived , '' he told Lah . `` And they 're blooming with flowers now . `` Just like the plants , we must go on and live . '' To see more amazing video footage from Japan 's earthquake and tsunami , check out the complete coverage rail at right or click here .
It has been one year since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan . The death toll is still unknown, but it's estimated that at least 10,000 people died as a result of the disaster. Nearly 16,000 people have been killed , according to official numbers . Damage has been estimated at about 25 trillion yen ( $ 300 billion )