Great Tohoku earthquake

• Geographical context


  - Japan exprieances 20% of worlds earthquakes whcih are 6 or greater on the richer scale

  - Japan's tsunami warning system kicked in but the first wave hit the north-east coastline only 30 mins after the earthquake

  - Local people expected a large technonic event evry 10 years but the intense size ogf the earthquake schocked the popualtion and emergancy services

  - Japan was already the most heavily indebted country in the HICs so they had to borrow money to meet the repair bills
• Primary impacts


  - 18000 was dead or missing

  - Flooded 500 sq km and many settlements was erased as it flowed 10km inland

  - Sendi airport was unusable so limited the aid and accessability

  - Fukushima nuclear crisis

  - 24-25 million tonnes of rubble and debris

  - 300 hospitals damaged

  - 45700 buildings destroyed

  - 15676 deaths, 5712 injured and 4832 missing

  - 452000 people evacuated the area and living in evacuation centres which were poor living conditions and many people had hypothermia
• Secondary impacts


  - Half a million left homeless

  - 2 weeks after there was aftershocks felt

  - Fear from the nuclear power disaster caused panic in the global market stock

  - 1 million was left without running water and 6 million lost electrical supplies
• Fukushima Nuclear plant crisis

  - Caeiums and iodine isotopes found in the water near the plants and lead to crops failures

  - 50 workers remained to cool down the system and alerted there was a widespread radioactive leakage which was caused by the tsunami

  - Exclusion area made around the Fukushima power plant and homes were evacuated and iodine tablets given out to residents
• Response


  - UN sent 63 search and rescue specialists and 2 rescue dogs and a medical support team

  - 100000 soldiers were mobilised to establish order, help with search and rescue and distribute blankets, water, food and petrol

  - Helicopters crews saved survivors from rooftops and flooded farmlands

  - Total damages was roughly $300 billion which is the most costly ever

  - Japanese government set up an advisory body called the Reconstruction Design council to plant a long-term growth in the Tohoku region. Special zones for reconstruction where designed to have relaxed planning regulations for rapid rebuilding and tax incentives for new investment in industry and commerce

  - 5 years after the Fukushima explosions, 100000 residents still didn't return and as a result it caused the government to withdraw evacuation orders of the Fukushima prefectures by March 2017

  -government ordered a shutdown of the majority of Japans nuclear power plants
• Japan Tsunami appael


  - first aid and emergency healthcare

  - distributing relief items

  - fitting out 70000 pre-fabricated homes with key appliances and items for 28000 people in Miyage, Fukushima and Iwate which were the most hard hitting areas.
• Cause


  - Eurasian, Pacific and Philippine plate meet here making it extremely complex

  - Sea bed of the eastern Japan is highly seismologically active section of the crust

  - Epicentre was under the ocean floor so water was pushed up and surged away in one direction at 500mph

  - shifting of the land caused a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

  - Wednesday 9th March saw a 7.2 earthquake.

  - Pacific plate went under the Japan plate and it put an extra strain on the area of existing pressure build up

  - 480km stretch of land of the pacific plate was breaking free and surging underneath Japan

  - Same time, Eurasian plate was shifted eastward by 2-4m and was lifted upwards by 9 metres