The Tohoku earthquake & Tsunami, Japan 2011

• The earthquake was a magnitude 9 earthquake
• Primary effects

  • over 18,000 dead or missing
  • building collapsed
  • 300km2 flooded
• Secondary effects

  • 1/2 million people homeless
  • food shortages
  • Fears of nuclear diaster
• Focus (hypocentre) – 30km deep

  Epicentre – 129km East of Sendai/323km North East Tokyo (both on the island of Honshu)
• • Its intensity according to the Mercalli Scale varied from place to place – the nearest large settlement to the epicentre was Sendai which had a Mercalli reading of 7 – very strong
• • On Monday 15th March (4 days after the earthquake)… 
  • 2414 people confirmed dead
  • Likely final death toll is set to reach beyond 10,000
  • 15,000 people unaccounted for
  • 550,000 evacuated from their homes
  • 215,000 people sheltering in makeshift rescue centres in the worst hit areas
  • 1 million homes left without running water
  • 6 million homes lost their electricity supply
  • £100 billion estimated total repair bill 
• • The National Police Agency of Japan reported that as of 11th September 2011 there was a total of 15,854 deaths, 26,992 injured and 3,155 people missing. 
• Major vehicle manufacturers halted production across Japan – Toyota announced that its factories would remain shut until the following week and Honda until 20th March.
• Central Tokyo was spared from power cuts as central government offices and many company headquarters are housed there. 
• The north-east of Japan, where the earthquake and tsunami caused the most devastation, is home to many of the country’s car part makers, supplying not just Japanese carmakers, but companies across the world.
• Radiation effects from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster:

  • In March 2011, Japanese officials announced that ‘radioactive ioden-131 exceeding safety limits for infants had been detected at 18 water purification plants in Tokyo’