A mega-tsunami (12.2 m of run up), caused by a major earthquake (Mw = 9, the great Tohoku earthquake) flooded at 3:30 pm a warehouse storing logistics pallets located 1.500 m from the seafront. The warehouse was flooded on more 5 m, 8 employees evacuated the site by car, 4 of them after the foreshocks at 2:46 pm and the others at 3:05 pm upon receipt of the tsunami alert. The stock of 100.000 plastic pallets was swept away in the logistics area that borders the Sendai airport and in the neighboring residential areas, 5 forklifts were destroyed and the building walls were battered by scrap cars and trucks swept away by the tsunami. The building has also suffered earthquake damage (pallets falling, cracks in the ground). The site, covered by several meters of debris and sediment, must be cleared by 4 backhoe which were also used to lift the pallets full of sediment. 75 employees of the company, brought in reinforcements from other parts of the country, cleaned the building and the pallets recovered in an area of over 20 square kilometers with high-pressure cleaners for 18 days. The warehouse reopened 20 days after the disatser. Direct damage is estimated at 5.1 million of euros (2011).