Tohoku

Question 1

Short term impacts

Answer 1

Economic:

• 22,000 barrel oil refinery set ablaze
• stock market loss by 6.9% (£90bn)

Social:

• 4000 roads damaged
• 1.5m houses without water
• 15,900 died
• 750,000 homes destroyed

Question 2

Long term impacts

Answer 2

Economic:

• 10% of fishing ports destroyed
• £122bn in damages

Social:

• 36,000 homes uninhabitable
• 50,000 people evacuated within a 25mile radius of Fukushima

Environmental:

• radiation levels 4000 X higher in sea
• local spinach 7 X more radiation than what is safe

Question 3

Short term responses

Answer 3

• warnings from JMA
• tsunami warning issued 3 minutes after the quake
• 91 countries offered aid
• 59 search and rescue experts and 11 tonnes of equipment flown in

Question 4

Long term responses

Answer 4

• 116 countries offered assistance
• estimates of insured losses ranged from $14.5bn to $34.6bn
• bank of Japan offered 15 trillion yen to try and stabilise market conditions

Question 5

Tohoku earthquake

Answer 5

• 11th March 2011
• Pacific plate subducting under North American plate
• magnitude 9
• lasted 6 minutes
• focus 30 km deep
• epicentre 129km East of Sendai
• NA plate moved 40m upwards
• tsunami 800km/hr
• hit Japan 22 minutes after quake