On March 11, 2011 at 2:46 PM, Japanese time, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hits, but was later upgraded to a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, happens 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan, at a depth of 15.2 miles. The pacific tsunami-warning centre sends out a warning to the Pacific Ocean from Japan all the way to The United States of America. Around an hour later after the earthquake the waves hit. The waves got up to 30ft high when they hit the Japanese coast. The waves caused widespread devastation washing away cars like they were sticks, collapsing buildings and destroying roads and highways. This Tsunami costed the Japanese government 25 trillion yen ($300 billion) dollars. The earthquake happened because of the thrust faulting on or around the subduction zone interface plate boundary between the pacific and North American plates. According to scientists who has look at this disaster Japan has shifted 8 feet (2.4 meters) East towards North America. The earthquake has also caused the earth to move between 4 and 6.5 (10–16cm) inches on its axis. This earthquake caused the tsunami because when the earthquake happened it suddenly shifted the sea floor in vertical motion, which moved the water Colum above it. This process started a series of giant waves called a tsunami. For the Japanese government this was the worst thing that could happen to them in the way that they lost a lot of citizens but also financially. This effected not only the Japanese government with damage costs but also the manufacturing business, exporting business and the insurance business. The Insurance companies claims ran into the billions. The manufacturing business was suspended along with car exports. March 12, 2011, on that night an aftershock of 6.2 m... ... middle of paper ... ...appens at reactor three causing a wall to collapse, which injured six. There are 600 residents in a 30 km radius left and they are told to stay indoors. Number 2 reactors loose its capabilities to cool down and workers frantically to pump seawater into the reactor. They have been doing this for the other two reactors at the plant, which means that the workers are rushing around trying to cool the fuel rods at reactors number 1 and number 2. As shown in the graph below the Tsunami and the earthquake caused widespread devastation not just round the Japan region but also across the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese government estimates the tsunami took around 5 million tons of debris off shore. 70% sank leaving about 1.5 million tons of debris floating in the Pacific Ocean. The death toll for this horrible disaster is 15,884, which was recently updated February 10, 2014.
The reactor being shut down might have a huge affect on the community now but what if in a few
The tsunami in Thailand that occurred on December 26, 2004, was by far the largest tsunami catastrophe in human history. It was triggered by a magnitude 9.1-9.3 earthquake along the Indian-Australian subduction zone off the northern coast of Sumatra. The tsunami waves traveled primarily in the east to west direction and caused major damage along the coasts of southern Thailand. Unpredictably, it was a violent earthquake beneath the sea that initiated the massive waves and struck more than a dozen countries in Southern Asia. It also destroyed thousands of miles of coastline and even submerged entire islands permanently. Throughout the region, the tsunami killed more than 150,000 people, and a million more were hurt, homeless, and without food or drinkable water, making it perhaps the most destructive tsunami in the modern history. In spite of peninsular Thailand's location facing the northern part of this subduction zone, the lack of any written historical records, together with the lack of any major local seismic activity, the tsunami caused thousands of fatalities and huge economic losses in the popular tourist regions in Thailand. Immediately after the disaster, numerous organizations and individual citizens have helped out and contributed to this devastating tsunami. Indeed, the tsunami in Thailand was a worldwide event, with significant wave action felt around the world. In this context, I am focusing more on the key features of the tsunami’s natural causes, the psychological effects on citizens, the perspective of socio-economic impacts and the consequences of the tsunami calamity.
Hurricane Katrina left a devastating scar on the citizens of the southern coast of the U.S., especially New Orleans, Louisiana. The category 5 hurricane was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the most deadly. Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29th, 2005 and after that day, 66,000 people were displaced from their homes. Of those who decided to ride out the storm with hopes of success and survival as they had experienced with other storms, they were found on their rooftops, in their attics, hoping for boat or helicopter rescue, relying on others for help to survive. The storm had reached 28,000 square feet inward to Louisiana, which was 60 percent of the state. 1,100 Louisianans lost their lives, and 200,000 were displaced and/or lost their homes (Davis 8). It was a devastating time of despair and suffering. People were put through experiences that would scar them for a long time. While preparing for evacuation, people left most of their belongings at home to flee to a safer city or to find shelter in the Superdome and Convention Center. Some even decided to remain in their boarded up homes. After the hurricane had past, a few hours went by and a levee located near the Mississippi River canal broke leaving New Orleans flooded (Delisi). After the disaster, the state and federal governments were pointing fingers at each other as to who was to blame for the poorly planned evacuation and rescue efforts for the victims. The state government promised to help evacuate those who could not transport themselves. Citizens were told to go to the Superdome and convention center for evacuation, but the supplies needed for survi...
I. (Gain Attention and Interest): March 11, 2011. 2:45 pm. Operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant continued as usual. At 2:46 pm a massive 9.0 earthquake strikes the island of Japan. All nuclear reactors on the island shut down automatically as a response to the earthquake. At Fukushima, emergency procedures are automatically enabled to shut down reactors and cool spent nuclear fuel before it melts-down in a catastrophic explosion. The situation seems under control, emergency diesel generators located in the basement of the plant activate and workers breathe a sigh of relief that the reactors are stabilizing. Then 41 minutes later at 3:27 pm the unthinkable occurs. As workers monitored the situation from within the plant, citizens from the adjacent town ran from the coastline as a 49 foot tsunami approached. The tsunami came swiftly and flooded the coastline situated Fukushima plant. Emergency generators were destroyed and cooling systems failed. Within hours, a chain of events led to an explosion of reactor 1 of the plant. One by one in the subsequent days reactors 2, and 3 suffered similar fates as explosions destroyed containment cases and the structures surrounding the reactors (Fukushima Accident). Intense amount...
People did many things to prepare for Hurricane Sandy. Many people who lived on or near the coastline were given evacuation orders by government officials. These areas were likely to experience severe flooding. The people who lived in low elevations along the coast were particularly in danger. These people left their homes in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut; some were fortunate enough to find a hotel to stay in or relatives to stay with. Others who weren’t as fortunate waited in community shelters. Organizations such as the American Red Cross opened shelters specifically for people who had to leave their homes because of Hurricane Sandy.
Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane at its highest, made impact between August 23-30th 2005, and has since gone down as the most devastating and costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. In preparation for the impact of the storm, on August 27th 2005, two days before the hurricane made landfall, President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Waterford nuclear plant was shut down for precautionary reasons in the wake of the oncoming storm and mandatory evacuations were issued for large parts of the southeast. Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans stated that about 80% of the 480,000 people asked to evacuate heeded warnings. Evacuation orders were also made for areas along the Mississippi coast, low-lying coastal areas in Alabama, as well as the barrier islands in western Florida Panhandle.
Pearl Harbor was a very vicious attack by the Japanese on the US. On December 7, 1941 US Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese fighter jets. United States had been aware of a possible attack since the 1920s; the US became more involved when the Japanese invaded Manchuria. Attack on Pearl Harbor was the beginning of something big, a bloody war between the Japanese and the United States. United States was not expecting such an event; it was such an unannounced attack on the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. That unexpected attack on December 7, 1941 was originally just a preventive effort for keeping the US from interfering with military action the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia. Japan wanted to cripple the pacific fleet so they wouldn’t foil their plan to create a defense perimeter in the Southwest Pacific. Japanese aircraft launched two aerial attack waves sinking four US Navy battleships and damaging two other battleships. The attacks also led to a high number of deaths. There original plan was to attack all of the US aircraft carriers. The attack on Pearl Harbor resulted in US entry into World War 2.
While the early warning saved thousands of people, the Japan’s Meteorological Agency underestimated this earthquake as the subduction zone of Japan should not produce the magnitude 9.0 quake (Oskin, 2013a). The Tohoku Earthquake and its tsunami approximately killed 16 thousand people, injured 6 thousand people and around 3 thousand people were missing. Most people died from drowning. Around 300 thousand buildings, 4000 roads, 78 bridges, and many more were affected by the earthquake, tsunami, and fires from leaking oils and gas. Electricity, telecommunication, and railways were severely damaged. The debris of 25 million ton was generated and carried out to the sea by water (BBC News, 2012). The country’s authorities estimated more than 309 billion US dollars of damages. Landslides occurred in Miyagi and liquefaction in Chiba, Tokyo, Odaiba, and Urayasu (USGS, 2013). Furthermore, the tsunami destroyed protective tsunami seawalls. Approximately 217 square miles of Japan covered in water (Oskin,
Hurricane Maria was destructive and caused a large amount of damage to the entire island of Puerto Rico. Maria hit on September 20 and was a category four hurricane, nearly a category five. Hurricane Maria has had a tremendous impact on the lives of Puerto Ricans and even the world.
March 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm, the north-east coast of Japan suffered a magnitude nine earthquake that resulted in a tsunami. Millions of people were left homeless by the extensive damage. Cities were destroyed and many lives were lost, but worst of all the nuclear reactors in Fukushima could not withstand the powerful forces of the tsunami. Soon after the tsunami struck, millions of tons of radioactive water dumped into the pacific ocean, and onto the land. The destruction of the nuclear reactors has had many effects on the ecosystem, human health, and the economy.
The earthquake and tsunami caused damage to lives and properties that affected the area. The earthquake happened on March 11, 2011 at 2:46 p.m. local time. People in cities along a 1,300 mile coastline were affected by tremors that reached as far as Tokyo. As of April 2015 the
The Meteorological Agency warned against aftershocks of up to magnitude 6. The focus of the quake was about 9 km below the seabed in the Sea of Japan about 70 km off Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. A tsunami warning issued by the Meteorological Agency immediately after the quake was lifted at noon. The initial shaking, which lasted as long as 30 seconds, toppled desks and knocked books off shelves and made it difficult to stand, a Fukuoka Prefecture Police spokesman said.
Japan, a country that has dealt with earthquakes and tsunamis basically since its founding, was very nearly crippled by the effects of the natural disaster that occurred on Friday March 11, 2011. It is the single largest earthquake ever to hit Japan in terms of magnitude, and serves a reminder to both Japanese citizens and people around the world that we should always be prepared for the worst and to expect the unexpected.
In March of 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest most powerful earthquakes to hit Honshu, Japan. (“Facts about Japan”) The earthquake registered 8.9 and was the fifth largest most powerful earthquake in the world.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Living along the coast of Japan meant that they knew all they needed to know about Tsunamis: They were caused by the vertical displacement of water. A mega thrust earthquake like the one that had just happened would displace a massive amount of water. A tsunami could travel across the ocean at the same speed as an airplane. Though it’s tall, the wave’s length is staggering; they can move inland for 16km before receding back into the ocean. But the most dangerous part isn’t the water coming in, but all the debris that it carries with it. They knew full well that they couldn't out run the wave once it made landfall, and if they didn’t find a safe place that they would certainly