Earthquake and Tsunami Case Studies Flashcards

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1
Q

Port-au-Prince, Haiti Earthquake (LIC), 2010: MAIN FACTS

A
  • Haïti Is an inner island of the Caribbean, called the Leeward Islands
  • Caused by the North American Plate sliding past the Caribbean Plate at a conservative plate margin.
  • January 12 2010
  • Magnitude 7 earthquake
  • Epiccentre 20km west of Port-au-Prince
  • The earthquake struck close to the nation’s capital of 2 million people
  • Shallow focus of 13km which caused much damage from shaking, which lasted for nearly a minute
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2
Q

Port-au-Prince, Haiti Earthquake (LIC), 2010: IMPACTS

A
  • estimate of 300,000 (316,000) people were killed
  • 1.5 million people were made homeless.
  • 250,000 residences and 30,000 other buildings destroyed, including the President’s palace
  • Transport and communication links were also badly damaged by the earthquake
  • The large number of bodies meant that diseases, especially cholera, became a serious problem
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3
Q

Port-au-Prince, Haiti Earthquake (LIC), 2010: SEVERITY

A
  • Haiti is the poorest country country in the western hemisphere with a vulnerable population
  • The capital has many areas built upon unstable soils and seismic waves amplified within the soil. This caused intense shaking and liquefaction
  • The earthquake struck close to the nation’s capital of 2 million people
  • many people lived in shacks made of flimsy materials on very steep steep, unstable slopes
  • Haiti had no army and few emergency service vehicles or staff to give immediate assistance
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4
Q

Port-au-Prince, Haiti Earthquake (LIC), 2010: PREDICTION

A
  • Famous Geologist Paul Mann wrote a report in 2008 that a major earthquake could happen here, and that the damage could be catastrophic.
  • Unfortunately, Haïti does not have the resources to heed such warnings.
  • The building quality was also proved to be very poor, and most loss of life was due to building collapse.
  • Also, because people were so poor they had few ‘reserves’ (money, food) to draw on and there is a very limited social safety net.
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5
Q

Port-au-Prince, Haiti Earthquake (LIC), 2010: RECOVERY

A
  • Haiti had poor resilience as recovery largely depended on overseas aid
  • 3 years after earthquake, just over half of the debris has been cleared
  • 280000 people were still living in camps
  • 1/5 of the countries population lost their jobs
  • Economic impact expected to be small, less than $US9 billion
  • Biggest cost was rebuilding
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6
Q

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (HIC), 2011: MAIN FACTS

A
  • occured on 11 March 2011
  • most powerful earthquake to hit Japan
  • one of the 5 most powerful earthquakes in the world
  • Earthquake (9.0 magnitude) was recorded in East Asia, in the Pacific Ocean.
  • earthquake occurred where the Pacific Plate is subducting under the Okhotsk plate, which carries North Japan (destructive plate boundary)
  • Recorded near the east coast of Honshu, Japan
  • Focus depth of only 32km
  • tsunami was created by the earthquake
  • a huge wave (14 m) created hit the coast of Honshu and flooded Japan
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7
Q

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (HIC), 2011: IMPACTS

A
  • 200000 people killed
  • 500km squared of coastal plains were hit, destroying farmland, settlements and communications
  • Ruptured gas pipes which led to fires
  • fewer than 5% of the damage came from the earthquake
  • Tsunami damaged the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, disabling the emergency generators needed to cool reactors and leading to nuclear meltdowns and radiation leaks
  • The tsunami defenses in the area were built to cope with an 8.0 magnitude earthquake, not a 9.0
  • Japan wasn’t prepared for a 1000-year occurence tsunami
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8
Q

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (HIC), 2011: PREDICTION AND WARNINGS

A
  • While Japan has in place a high-tech warning system to alert the public when an earthquake is happening, it didn’t work as well as it might have in 2011
  • The warning was issued just 8 seconds after the first wave of the earthquake was detected. It sent a message to 124 television stations and 52 million phones. It caused bullet trains to stop and elevators to halt
  • calculations of the earthquake’s likely strength based on the initial wave turned out to be wrong because the earthquake increased in power over time.
  • the system underestimated the severity and extent of the quake, and the warning was not sent to places like Tokyo
  • The tsunami warning did not reach many coastal residents who had already evacuated, or whose TVs and radios stopped working due to power outages sparked
  • Despite the fact that the tsunami hit 30 to 60 minutes later, man people had no warning of this
  • In the future, better alert systems are needed to send out updated information to the public before and during an emergency
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9
Q

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (HIC), 2011: MITIGATION

A
  • Constructing sea walls along low-lying stretches of coast and breakwaters at entrances of bays and harbours
  • planting belts of trees between the shoreline and the areas requiring protection
  • where development exists, establish adequate warning and evacuation systems
  • set standards of construction for structures within harbours and known run-up areas
  • development of coastal forests - may stop driftwood, reduces water flow velocity, provides a life-saving trap for people swept off land by a tsunami run-down, creates sand dunes which serve as natural barriers
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