Japanese Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami 2011

Question	Answer
What type of plate boundary is Japan located on?	Destructive/Convergent
Whereabouts did the earthquake occur?	Pacific Ocean. ~100km off Japanese east coast 6km deep focus
What was the magnitude of the earthquake?	9.0 Richter Scale Cat. 12 Mod. Mercalli Lasted 5 mins
How many casualties occurred as a result of the earthquake and tsunami?	15,891 deaths. 15,000+ missing
What were the short-term effects of the earthquake and tsunami?	46,000 buildings destroyed. 6.2 magnitude aftershock hit Tokyo. Oil and gas pipes broke, causing fires. Vehicles & ships deposited on buildings.
What happened to the Fukushima nuclear power plant?	Cooling system failure. Went into level 7 meltdown. Radiation levels inside the plant 1,000x normal level. Radiation levels outside the plant 8x normal level.
What were the long-term effects of the earthquake and tsunami?	Radioactive contamination of soil in the Fukushima prefecture -> contaminated livestock -> contaminated foodstuffs. Honshu moved ~2m eastwards. Debris not removed until 2015.
What management strategies were in place and what was Japan's response to the situation?	Only country with a P-wave early warning system - warned people 1 min before earthquake, auto alerts on TV, radio and phones. Mobilisation of 100,000 members of Japanese Self-Defence Force. Red Cross & Red Crescent pledged aid. NGOs assisted with rescue and recovery missions and established relief funds.

Resource summary

	Created by Wesley Spearman over 6 years ago