The P-wave monitoring system gave the Japanese a full minute warning and allowed hundreds of bullet trains to stop, industrial and chemical plants to stop processes in an orderly fashion, for power systems to be shut down. It wasn't enough time for everything to be secured but it saved thousands of lives and billions in damage.

Their Tsunami warning system gave the affected area about eleven minutes warning. For thousands that heeded the warning, and were close enough to safety to make it, that eleven minutes of warning was the difference between life and death.