The 2011 Japanese earthquake
Introduction: On the 11th of March 2011, the east coast of Japan was rocked by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake and a resulting Tsunami. Many lives were lost and large amounts of infrastructure destroyed. Rebuilding efforts are continuing today, however the consequences could have been a lot worse, considering the nuclear reactor of Fukushima went into full scale meltdown during the tsunami.
What caused the earthquake?: The Japanese Earthquake
occurred where the Pacific plate lies under the North American plate. 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. The earthquake occurred at a relatively shallow depth at 20 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. This, combined with the high magnitude,
caused a tsunami.
The Impacts: The large earthquake created a massive tsunami that hit the coast of Japan.The earthquake occurred off the coast, but it did not do as much damage as if it were inland. The resulting tsunami however killed numerous people. The National Police Agency of Japan reported as of March 2012 a total of 15,868 deaths,6,109 injured and 2,848 people missing. The USGS reports 20,896 fatalities for this disaster. (socio-economic).
As we can see from the information the death toll is huge compared to earthquakes such as the one in Chirstchurch, New Zealand. As of March 10th, 2012, over 1.2 million buildings have been damaged by the tsunami and earthquake.
(socio-economic).
A total of around 700000 people were left homeless after the impact (social). A major impact of the earthquake and tsunami was that
the Fukushima Nuclear power plant was severely damaged. Nearly 30,00,000 homes and businesses were left without power (socio-economic). The release of radioactive materials also caused food sources in Japan to become irradiated and raised concern over the safety of the food in nearby towns and settlements. As late as July radioactive beef was found for sale at Tokyo markets.(economic)
Rebuilding as a MEDC: Being a MEDC, Japan had a large amount of important infrastructure destroyed, namely a nuclear power plant. Many buildings also collapsed due to poor buidling guidelines as well. However, where Japan has proved itself as being more capable at handling this situation as a MEDC is the rebuild process. Construction moved far quicker due to ample monetarys upport from the government, and many citizens had insurance, so therefore were able to claim it on their destroyed property. Similar to Christchurch however many citizens had a hard battle with insurance companies to claim their money. Overall however, rebuilding is continuing at a steady pace, just like in Christchurch, and life is starting to get back to normal for many of the citizens of Japan.
What caused the earthquake?: The Japanese Earthquake
occurred where the Pacific plate lies under the North American plate. 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. The earthquake occurred at a relatively shallow depth at 20 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. This, combined with the high magnitude,
caused a tsunami.
The Impacts: The large earthquake created a massive tsunami that hit the coast of Japan.The earthquake occurred off the coast, but it did not do as much damage as if it were inland. The resulting tsunami however killed numerous people. The National Police Agency of Japan reported as of March 2012 a total of 15,868 deaths,6,109 injured and 2,848 people missing. The USGS reports 20,896 fatalities for this disaster. (socio-economic).
As we can see from the information the death toll is huge compared to earthquakes such as the one in Chirstchurch, New Zealand. As of March 10th, 2012, over 1.2 million buildings have been damaged by the tsunami and earthquake.
(socio-economic).
A total of around 700000 people were left homeless after the impact (social). A major impact of the earthquake and tsunami was that
the Fukushima Nuclear power plant was severely damaged. Nearly 30,00,000 homes and businesses were left without power (socio-economic). The release of radioactive materials also caused food sources in Japan to become irradiated and raised concern over the safety of the food in nearby towns and settlements. As late as July radioactive beef was found for sale at Tokyo markets.(economic)
Rebuilding as a MEDC: Being a MEDC, Japan had a large amount of important infrastructure destroyed, namely a nuclear power plant. Many buildings also collapsed due to poor buidling guidelines as well. However, where Japan has proved itself as being more capable at handling this situation as a MEDC is the rebuild process. Construction moved far quicker due to ample monetarys upport from the government, and many citizens had insurance, so therefore were able to claim it on their destroyed property. Similar to Christchurch however many citizens had a hard battle with insurance companies to claim their money. Overall however, rebuilding is continuing at a steady pace, just like in Christchurch, and life is starting to get back to normal for many of the citizens of Japan.