14.4 Living with Earthquakes: Japan case study

Question 1

How many earthquakes does Japan experience everyday?

Answer 1

400 earthquakes per day (vast majority are tiny)

Question 2

How many earthquakes above 7.0Mw have occurred since 2000 + how many fatalities?

Answer 2

23 earthquakes causing 16,000 fatalities

Question 3

What area of Japan is particularly vulnerable to tsunamis?

Answer 3

The Pacific Coastal Zone – contains 3 major conurbations: Tokyo (36 million), Osaka (19 million), Nagoya (9 million)

Question 4

When was the Tohoku earthquake?

Answer 4

11 March 2011

Question 5

What size was the Tohoku earthquake?

Answer 5

9.0 Mw earthquake that occurred along the boundary between Pacific plate and NA plate
(largest earthquake to have struck Japan)

Question 6

How long did the Tohoku earthquake last?

Answer 6

6 minutes

Question 7

How would the Tohoku earthquake be described?

Answer 7

Undersea megathrust earthquake

Question 8

Where was the epicentre?

Answer 8

70km offshore of Honshu Island

Question 9

How much did Honshu Island move by?

Answer 9

2.4 metres east

Question 10

How much did the seabed rise by?

Answer 10

7 metres

Question 11

How much did the seabed rise by?

Answer 11

7 metres

Question 12

What height did the tsunamis reach?

Answer 12

40.5 metres at the coast

Question 13

How far inland did the tsunamis travel?

Answer 13

10km

Question 14

How large were the aftershocks?

Answer 14

Up to 7.0-8.0 Mw

Question 15

Apart from Japan, where else did the tsunamis damage?

Answer 15

2.4 metre waves affected Oregon and California coastlines., causing $10million damage

Question 16

Social impacts: How many people injured and killed?

Answer 16

Injured 6,000 people

Killed 16,000 people

Question 17

Social impacts: what demographic were most of the people killed?

Answer 17

Two-thirds were over 60 and a quarter were over 70

Question 18

Social impacts: what was the main cause of death?

Answer 18

90% due to drowning

Rest due to burns and being crushed by collapsing buildings

Question 19

Social impacts: what was the issue with disposal of bodies?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Social impacts: how many children affected?

Answer 20

100,000 children due to it being schooltime when earthquake struck

Question 21

Social impacts: how many young children were either orphaned or lost one parent?

Answer 21

2000 children

Question 22

Social impacts: small coastal school example

Answer 22

74 of 108 students killed and 10 teachers out of 13

Question 23

Social impacts: for how long after the quake was reconstruction of buildings taking place?

Answer 23

5 years after

Question 24

Economic impacts: how much did the earthquake cost japans economy?

Answer 24

£181 billion

Question 25

Economic impacts: how many buildings destroyed and damaged?

Answer 25

45,700 buildings destroyed

143,300 damaged

Question 26

Economic impacts: how many vehicles were destroyed or damaged?

Answer 26

230,000

Question 27

Economic impacts: how many ports destroyed and damaged?

Answer 27

15 ports directly affected and 4 destroyed

Question 28

Economic impacts: what % of Japan’s fishing ports were destroyed?

Answer 28

10%

Question 29

Economic impacts: how many people lost electricity?

Answer 29

4.4 million households and thousands of businesses

Question 30

Economic impacts: what was the major cause of loss of electricity?

Answer 30

Immediate shutdown of 11 nuclear reactors

Question 31

Economic impacts: describe Fukushima

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Economic impacts: what transport infrastructure was particularly damaged?

Answer 32

Train services in the northeast were badly disrupted with 23 train stations being swept away

Question 33

Economic impacts: how much debris was created?

Answer 33

25 million tonnes = costly clean-up operation

Question 34

Economic impacts: what happened to Japan’s stock market?

Answer 34

Fell as implications for Sony, Toyota and Panasonic due to shortage of electricity

Question 35

Political impacts: what did the Japanese government do?

Answer 35

Injected billions of yen into the economy to provide stability BUT increased debt

Question 36

Political impacts: what emerged after the Tohoku earthquake?

Answer 36

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