Tectonic Tsunami Case study Flashcards
Names and dates of 3 case studies
Boxing day 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
Talcahuano Chile, 2010 tsunami
Japanese 2011 Tohuku
Boxing day, tsunami
location, details and magnitude and plate margin and focus depth
Epicentre is an Indian Ocean 250 km off the West Coast of Indonesia
affect south east of India and Sri Lanka magnitude
Magnitude 9.1
At subduction zone caused a 20 m uplift of water of Indo Australian plate under Eurasian, focus depth of 30 km.
Boxing day Tsunami characteristics height in the station, inland and speed
24 meter tsunami height
800 km/h speed
inundated 3 km inland
Social impacts, boxing day, tsunami 
Fatalities in 14 countries - over 200,000 deaths
125,000 injured,
1.7 million people displaced over 14 countries - as 1500 villages lost
Boxing Day tsunami economic impacts
15 billion in economic losses reliance on which causes reliance on aid which increases debt that future economic
impact 70% of Sri Lanka‘s fishing industry was destroyed
Boxing tsunami , environmental impact
8,000,000 L are oil spill damage coral reefs in coastal Wetland
crops and farming destroyed
Damage freshwater ecosystem and mangrove due to saltation. Mangroves are natural flood defences and maintain high biodiversity.
Talcahuano Tsunami
Location details, magnitude plate boundary and focus
Nazca and South America plates convergent
Magnitude, 8.8
Mega thrust subduction zone, focus of 35 km below surface of Pacific Ocean 
Talcahuano Tsunami
Tsunami, characteristics, speed, and height 
2.6 m
725 km/h.
Talcahuano Tsunami
Social impacts
525 deaths
12,000 injured hard to treat as 56 hospitals damaged
More than 50 schools damaged
Shortage of food, water and fuel lead to widespread looting (increase crime means more injury and less social stability)
Talcahuano Tsunami
Economic impacts
US$ 15- 30 billion losses
ports were destroyed damaging the 40 million sector
Talcahuano Port badly damaged - fishing and tourism industries, face decline
Talcahuano Tsunami
Environmental impact
Debris dumped into fragile weapons and areas pipe damage mean on process switch released into the Biobio river cause eutrophication
HOWEVER Beaches were uplifted, which created habitats for intertidal species
Japanese tsunami magnitude plate boundary and focus on location details
Pacific plate in North American plate convergence, 130 km east of Sendai
Magnitude, 9.0
Mega thrust subduction zone
focus 30 km below Pacific seabed

Social impacts of Japanese tsunami
15,000 people died
4000 roads destroyed, preventing some evacuation and aid long-term can impact trade or get into school or hospital so social impacts
6100 injuries
Economic impacts Japanese
US$240 billion in economic loss
Huge infrastructure damage to ports and water electric supply - (trade impacted, water affects health, electricity affect businesses and social eg for getting information on time)
46,000 buildings damaged
Environmental impacts, Japanese tsunami
Radioactive chemicals leaked, found in Tokyo’s drinking water (from Fukushima)
5 million tons of debris end up in the sea
cracked a major iceberg in Antarctica which causes methane to be leaked - climate change
destroyed 21,000 hectare of farmland due salvation effects primary sector so low income people at higher impact.
Boxing day tsunami why was it so devastating?
Earthquake was the most powerful ever recorded
Impacted 14 countries are many were developing so do not have necessary emergency supplies procedures of infrastructure to cope, cause heavy reliance on foreign assistance
Heavily densely populated areas
Coastline around Indian Ocean, particularly low-lying
Occurred during the main tourist season for visitors from Europe increased people density at the time
Tsunami not very common in Indian Ocean hard to predict so no warning system except Thailand

Why is Boxing Day tsunami considered mega disaster
14 countries impacted
international aid required for food or shelter
economic and losses and deaths
one of the largest ever in terms of Ariel extent
Talcahuano
Why was the tsunami so devastating?
Tsunami warning system was not in place, not quick enough to warn those living in coast of the impending danger tsunami disproportionately kill tourists who are camping in low-level coastal areas. Local residents were aware and evacuated to higher grounds day.
Long, blackout made rescue efforts, more difficult
epicentre very close, 70 miles from the urban area
Theft of food made assistance very hard to give out
isolated areas of more vulnerable and had less supplies to cope
Sendai
Why was it so devastating?
9.0 magnitude of shore areas were particularly shallow Japanese lowland are found in the east coast waves able to reach further inland.
Sendai why is it considered a global or mega disaster?
Only Japan was directly affected by economic impacts of global consequences due to disruptions of port, factories and power supply. They are important production supply chain, e.g. for Boeing jets and semiconductors.
Loss of public acceptability of nuclear power for sample, Germany and Italy, immediately shut down some of the nuclear reactors or shutdown plans to build new ones
