Tohoku Earthquake

• How many earthquakes does Japan record annually on average?

  1500
• At what time and date did the earthquake occur?

  14:46, 11th March 2011
• How strong was the earthquake and where was the epicentre?

  9.0, 100km due east of Sendai on North Honshu's Eastern Coast
• What happened to the plates?

  A 400-500km segment of the North American plate which was being dragged down by the subducting Pacific Plate, suddenly slipped upwards between 5 and 10 metres
• What happened as a result of the earthquake?

  Large amounts of seawater was displaced resulting in a tsunami travelling at hundreds of kmh-1
• How effective was Japan's tsunami warning system?

  It did work, but only gave those by the 3000km long coastline minutes to escape
• More information about the tsunamis?

  The first wave hit the northern coast 30 minutes after the earthquake, with 10 waves hitting altogether, about 1km apart and 10m high, they overwhelmed tsunami defence walls and surged up to 10km in land
• What happened before the main earthquake?

  There was a smaller earthquake of magnitude 7.2, 2 days before
• How many aftershocks and to what strength?

  1235, up to 6.0
• How much land was flooded?

  500 square kilometres
• How were skyscrapers effected?

  They started shaking like trees, however, damage was limited due to earthquake proofing
• How many people died?

  18 000 - mainly due to the tsunami however the tsunami warning system did save thousands of lives
• How many were left homeless?

  Half a million people
• How was nuclear power affected?

  There were explosions and radiation leaks in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant which spread fear around the world
• What did the fear of a nuclear disaster cause?

  Panic selling across global stock markets
• How were soldiers used after the earthquake?

  100 000 soldiers were used to establish order, organise rescue work and distribute aid
• What was done to reduce the effects of a potential nuclear disaster?

  An exclusion zone was set up around the Fukushima Daiichi Power plant, with homes evacuated and iodine tablets given out to those in the local area to reduce the likelihood of sickness
• How was the tsunami warning system changed after the earthquake?

  It was upgraded as people underestimated the risks of a potential tsunami
• Following the earthquake, what happened to nuclear power?

  Nuclear power used to power 30% of Japan, which reduced until 2016, during that time the reliance on fossil fuels increased
• What is the life expectancy at birth in Japan at birth?

  83.2 years