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Earthquake and Tsunami
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Earthquake and Tsunami
Tohoku, Japan 2011
Early Warning:
Tokyo residents received a minute warning before the strong shaking hit the city thanks to the early warning system
Seismic building codes and early warning system prevented many deaths - stopped high speed trains and factory assembly lines
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Death Toll:
As of December 2021, the confirmed number of deaths is 19,747 and more than 2,500 still reported missing
Tsunami:
Less than an hour after the earthquake, the first of many tsunami waves hit the coastline
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Fukushima:
Tsunami caused a cooling system failure at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant - resulted in a level 7 nuclear meltdown and release of radioactive material
The electrical power and backup generators were overwhelmed by the tsunami and the plant lost its cooling capabilities
Response:
Japan's Meteorological Agency was criticised in the aftermath for issuing an initial warning that underestimated the size of the wave - only 58% of people headed for higher ground immediately after the earthquake (eg. Miyako, Fukushima)
Many underestimated their personal risk, or assumed the tsunami would be as small as ones they had previously experienced
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Earthquake engineers examined the damage, looking for ways to build buildings more resistant to quakes and tsunamis
Worldwide Effects:
Tsunami waves travelled across the Pacific, reaching Alaska, Hawaii and Chile (in Chile waves were 2m high at the shore)
Surge of water carried an estimated 5million tonnes of debris out to sea - Japanese docks and ships, countless household items have arrived on US and Canadian shores in the ensuring years
Earthquake:
The plates are rough and stick together, building up energy - releases as an earthquake
Struck along a subduction zone where two of the Earth's tectonic plates collided - Pacific subducted underneath the Eurasian plate
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It was centred on the sea floor 45 miles east of Tohoku at a depth of 15 miles below the surface - the shaking lasted about 6 mins
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Facts:
As on November 2021, 39,000 who lost their homes; 1000 of them were still living in temporary housing according to Japan's Reconstruction Agency
More than 120,000buildings were destroyed, 278,000 were half destroyed, and 726,000 were partially destroyed
The direct financial damage is estimated to be $199 billion dollars (16.9 trillion yen) according the the government - Total could reach $235 billion (making it the costliest natural disaster)
Tsunami experts around the world have been asked to assess the history of past tsunamis in Japan, to better predict the country's future earthquake risk