JAPAN

• Japan was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake followed by a tsunami


  11th of March 2011
• Japan's location


  • Located on the eastern edge of the Eurasian plate
  • Boundary between the Eurasian and Pacific plate is destructive, with the oceanic Pacific plate sinking under the continental Eurasian Plate
• Earthquake occurred


  1. 46 p.m. local time
• Epicentre


  Located 70 km east of Tohoku
• Focus


  At a depth of 29 km
• Tsunami


  Reached up to 40.5m high and travelled up to 10 kilometres inland
• Primary impacts include: 16,000 deaths, 10% of all fishing ports being damaged, a 400 kilometre long stretch of coastline dropped by 1.6 meters and the nuclear power station at Fukushima was damaged
• Secondary impacts include the tsunami and all the damage it caused, 19,000 homes left without clean water or electricity, 70,000 people had to be evacuated due to the damage at the nuclear power station and the total estimated cost was £182 billion
• Immediate responses


  1. Debris being cleared within two days by the Japanese Army

  2. 116 countries and 28 international organisations offered assistance
• Long-term responses


  1. New tsunami walls being constructed 25 to 30 meters high

  2. A £25 million warning system revealed in March 2013

  3. 96% of electricity was restored by November
• Japan's preparedness for natural hazards


  • Many buildings are earthquake resistant
  • The people are educated about hazards, for example September 1st every year is Disaster Prevention Day
  • As a high-income country, Japan is very good at responding to and preparing for natural hazards