14.4 Living with Earthquakes: Japan case study Flashcards
How many earthquakes does Japan experience everyday?
400 earthquakes per day (vast majority are tiny)
How many earthquakes above 7.0Mw have occurred since 2000 + how many fatalities?
23 earthquakes causing 16,000 fatalities
What area of Japan is particularly vulnerable to tsunamis?
The Pacific Coastal Zone – contains 3 major conurbations: Tokyo (36 million), Osaka (19 million), Nagoya (9 million)
When was the Tohoku earthquake?
11 March 2011
What size was the Tohoku earthquake?
9.0 Mw earthquake that occurred along the boundary between Pacific plate and NA plate
(largest earthquake to have struck Japan)
How long did the Tohoku earthquake last?
6 minutes
How would the Tohoku earthquake be described?
Undersea megathrust earthquake
Where was the epicentre?
70km offshore of Honshu Island
How much did Honshu Island move by?
2.4 metres east
How much did the seabed rise by?
7 metres
How much did the seabed rise by?
7 metres
What height did the tsunamis reach?
40.5 metres at the coast
How far inland did the tsunamis travel?
10km
How large were the aftershocks?
Up to 7.0-8.0 Mw
Apart from Japan, where else did the tsunamis damage?
2.4 metre waves affected Oregon and California coastlines., causing $10million damage
Social impacts: How many people injured and killed?
Injured 6,000 people
Killed 16,000 people
Social impacts: what demographic were most of the people killed?
Two-thirds were over 60 and a quarter were over 70
Social impacts: what was the main cause of death?
90% due to drowning
Rest due to burns and being crushed by collapsing buildings
Social impacts: what was the issue with disposal of bodies?
Mass mortality and destruction of morgues + crematoriums meant there was nowhere for bodies to go
Traditional funerals scrapped and mass graves built to prevent spread of disease
Social impacts: how many children affected?
100,000 children due to it being schooltime when earthquake struck
Social impacts: how many young children were either orphaned or lost one parent?
2000 children
Social impacts: small coastal school example
74 of 108 students killed and 10 teachers out of 13
Social impacts: for how long after the quake was reconstruction of buildings taking place?
5 years after
Economic impacts: how much did the earthquake cost japans economy?
£181 billion
Economic impacts: how many buildings destroyed and damaged?
45,700 buildings destroyed
143,300 damaged
Economic impacts: how many vehicles were destroyed or damaged?
230,000
Economic impacts: how many ports destroyed and damaged?
15 ports directly affected and 4 destroyed
Economic impacts: what % of Japan’s fishing ports were destroyed?
10%
Economic impacts: how many people lost electricity?
4.4 million households and thousands of businesses
Economic impacts: what was the major cause of loss of electricity?
Immediate shutdown of 11 nuclear reactors
Economic impacts: describe Fukushima
Cooling systems were disabled by sea water flooding which led to a meltdown of reactor cores and release of radioactivity = 30km evacuation zone
All 6 reactors were severely damaged = decommission of power plant
Economic impacts: what transport infrastructure was particularly damaged?
Train services in the northeast were badly disrupted with 23 train stations being swept away
Economic impacts: how much debris was created?
25 million tonnes = costly clean-up operation
Economic impacts: what happened to Japan’s stock market?
Fell as implications for Sony, Toyota and Panasonic due to shortage of electricity
Political impacts: what did the Japanese government do?
Injected billions of yen into the economy to provide stability BUT increased debt
Political impacts: what emerged after the Tohoku earthquake?
A large popular movement against nuclear power due to concerns over safety standards
Several executives involved with Fukushima resigned after revealed there had been warnings several years before about inadequacy of defences against tsunami
