Japan Case Study

Question 1

What was the EQ magnitude

Answer 1

9.0

Question 2

How many miles away was the EQ from Tokyo

Answer 2

250 miles

Question 3

When was the EQ

Answer 3

March 11, 2011, 2:46 local time

Question 4

What was the depth of the EQ

Answer 4

Only 20 miles

Question 5

What plate margins were responsible

Answer 5

Subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the Eurasian plate at a destructive margin

Question 6

How much energy was released

Answer 6

600 million times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb

Question 7

Primary effects

Answer 7

16,000 dead

130,000 displaced

330,000 buildings damaged

300 hospitals damaged

transport links significantly damaged

4.4 million without electricity

Question 8

Secondary effects

Answer 8

Cost Japan 300 billion

Tsunami wave 40.5m high

Fukushima nuclear meltdown

Severely damaged infrastructure

Question 9

Immediate response

Answer 9

Tsunami warning issued 3 minutes after EQ

100,000 members of Japan defence force dispatched

20km evacuation around Fukushima nuclear plant

100,000 moved to temporary shelter

Help from china, India, US and New Zealand

Question 10

Long term responses

Answer 10

10 year recovery plan costing 23 trillion yen

Sea walls put in place to mitigate future threats

Introduction of the reconstruction policy council which focused on developing tsunami resilient communities

Energy, running water and communication was achieved 9 months later