On March 10, 2011 at 9:54pm Pacific Standard Time, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan, creating a major tsunami event for the entire Pacific Ocean, including the West Coast of North America. Approximately nine hours later at 7am on March 11th, the first of many tsunami surges struck the Port of Brookings-Harbor, causing massive damage to boats and the harbor's infrastructure, and the dangerous surges continued for over 24 hours. Six boats were sunk and over 7 million dollars of damage resulted. This tsunami event caused the greatest destruction ever recorded to the Port of Brookings-Harbor.