Case Study - Japan Earthquake - 2011 Flashcards
Where is Japan
Japan is in Asia,
Region: East Asia
Japan is an island country
What type of country is Japan
Japan is a High Income Country (HIC)
What is Japan’s Human Development Index (HDI)
Japan HDI: 0.925 ranked 19th in the world
What caused the Japan Earthquake
Japan is located on the eastern edge of the Eurasian Plate. The Eurasian plate, which is continental, is subducted by the Pacific Plate, an oceanic plate forming a subduction zone to the east of Japan. This type of plate margin is known as a destructive plate margin. The process of subduction is not smooth. Friction causes the Pacific Plate to stick. Pressure builds and is released as an earthquake.
When did the earthquake occur
The Japan earthquake occurred on Friday 11th March, 2011 at 2:46 pm (JST, local time)
What was the magnitude of the Earthquake
The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0 (on the richter scale)
Where did the earthquake strike
The Japan earthquake stuck off Japan’s northeast coast, about 250 miles (400km) from Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles.
What were the Primary Effect (SOCIAL)
Approximately 5,894 people died
26,152 people were injured.
30,927 people were displaced,
2,562 remain missing.
332,395 buildings, 2,126 roads, 56 bridges and 26 railways were destroyed or damaged.
300 hospitals were damaged, and 11 were destroyed.
Over 4.4 million households were left without electricity in North-East Japan.
1.5 million without water.
Transport – Japan’s transport network suffered huge disruptions.
What were the Primary Effect (Economic)
Negative impact on oil industry as 2 refineries were set on fire during the earthquake
Agriculture: The salt water contaminated the soil and made it impossible to grow crops
Stock Market crashed (negative impacts on companies such as Sony and Toyota). Production was reduced due to power cuts
Assembly of good (e.g. cars overseas) were effected by disruption in supply of parts, from Japan
What were the Primary Effect (Environmental )
Japanese authorities estimate that 25 million tonnes of debris were created in the three most affected prefectures (counties)
Some coastal areas experienced land subsidence due to the earthquake. The beachfronts in some places dropped by more than 50cm
Liquefaction occured in many parts of Tokyo built on reclaimed land. 1046 buildings were damaged because of this.
The seabed near the epicentre shifted by 24 m, and the seabed off the coast of the Miyagi province had moved by 3 m.
Agriculture: The salt water contaminated the soil and made it impossible to grow crops
What were the Secondary Effect (Social)
130,927 people displaced (homeless)
Rural areas remained isolated for a long time because the tsunami destroyed major roads and local trains and buses.
What were the Secondary Effect (Economic)
The earthquake was the most expensive natural disaster in history, with an economic cost of US$235 billion.
The world travel and tourism council said that foreign visitor numbers in June and July were 36% lower than for the same period last year
What were the Secondary Effect (Environmental)
The earthquake caused a tsunami which later caused a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
Tsunami - Waves up to 40 m in high devastated entire coastal areas and resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. This caused a lot of damage and pollution up to 6 miles inland.
What were the immediate responses
Over 300,000 were left homeless and needed access to food, water, shelter and medicine. The army helped to build many temporary shelters very quickly.
Japanese red cross recieved over $1 billion in donations
Japanese red cross gave out over 300,000 emergency relief kits and 14,000 sleeping bags
Rescue services and army cleared roads and created access paths (they cleared the debris left by roads caused by the Earthquake and Tsunami)
Doctors and nurses were flown from other parts of the country to help with the relief efforts and many patients were flown far out of the emergency area to receive treatment.
What were the long-term responses
Billions of pounds spent in making buildings more resistant to earthquakes. This involves using types of glass that do not shatter, weights in the building to counter the sway and huge shock absorbers in the foundations
Over £70 million were spent on lasers that are used to monitor even the slightest movements of tectonic plates
The government set up a Reconstruction Design Council who had a budget of over 23 trillion Yen to rebuild houses.
The runway at Sendai Airport had been badly damaged. However, it was restored and reusable by the 29th of March due to a joint effort by the Japanese Defence Force and the US Army.
