Geography - The Restless Earth - Earthquake in a MEDC - Japan CASE STUDY

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Japan Earthquake MEDC CASE STUDY

Background

·

The earthquake happened on Friday 11th March

2011 and lasted for 5 minutes

·

An Earthquake warning was sent out about 1

minute before the earthquake hit.

·

The earthquake measured 9.0 on the Richter

scale.

·

The epicentre was 81 miles away from Sendai in

the Pacific Ocean.

·

The earthquake also caused a tsunami to hit the

north-eastern coast of the country.

Causes

·

Japan suffers many earthquakes every year

·

The country lies on a Destructive Plate Margin

where the Oceanic Pacific Plate meets the Continental Eurasian Plate

·

The Pacific Plate was forced down/sub-ducted under

the Eurasian Plate

·

Pressure built up between the plates

·

Eventually this pressure is released and it

caused a rapid shift in the plates and a lot of energy to be released. This was

the earthquake.

Primary Effects

·

Most modern building withstood the violent shaking;

this was due to the strict building regulations the country has and that they

have many facilities to monitor the movement of the ground. Only traditional

wooden building suffered major damage.

·

Most industrial buildings suffered only minor

damage from the quake itself.

·

In some areas subsidence meant that land sunk by

75cm . This lead too many areas being a flood risk.

·

Many sections of the new Tohoku Expressway were

damaged. It did not open again until March 2011.

·

Power outages hit Tokyo and 8 other areas which affected

around 4 million homes.

·

Panic and chaos was caused by the quake

·

Fewer than 20 people were killed by the earthquake

·

Liquefaction turned large areas too mud

·

There was some ground rupture.

· Damage was caused in Tokyo and many injuries in the north where the quake was centred

· The yen fell sharply but recouped most of its decline several hours later. Tokyo stocks fell.

· Local television showed smoke rising from a Tokyo port building, fire in the capital’s waterfront Odaiba district and an oil refinery ablaze in Ichihara, near Tokyo

Secondary Effects

·

The Earthquake caused a large tsunami to also

hit Japan.

o

This caused 16,000 deaths and 26,000 people were

injured.

·

45,700 building were destroyed and 144,300 were

damaged by the quake and the tsunami

o

1.4million homes were also left without power or

water

o

582 roads were cut off

o

32 bridges were destroyed

·

Millions of worker also became trapped in Tokyo

as the train and underground network was closed

·

The cost of recovery for the quake and following

tsunami was around $235 billion

Short Term Responses

·

3 minutes after the quake a tsunami warning was

issued

·

People were urged not to go back to their homes

due to the possibility of a tsunami

·

Search and rescue teams were mobilised and so

were medical teams, 30 helicopters were assigned to help the recue and relief

effort. They also distributed food, water, blankets etc.

·

Sports centres and other large building were

opened for the 530,000 displaced people to sleep in

·

Electricity supplies were fixed

·

The Defence

Ministry sent in eight fighter jets to check the damage.

·

91 countries sent aid to help the country, from

blankets and food to search dogs and military transport.

·

Over £200 million was raised to help in the

first week

Long Term Responses

·

The massive clean-up effort took a many months

·

Many people had to rebuild their lives after the

quake and tsunami

·

Preparation and planning in the country

increased, eg school drills, earthquake, survival gear, disaster parks.

·

Engineering developed even more eg earthquake

proof building (The Sky Tree)