japan earthquake 2011 geography case study

Case Study: How does Japan live with earthquakes?

Japan lies within one of the most tectonically active zones in the world. It experiences over 400 earthquakes every day. The majority of these are not felt by humans and are only detected by instruments. Japan has been hit by a number of high-intensity earthquakes in the past. Since 2000 there are have been 16000 fatalities as the result of tectonic activity.

Japan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the North American, Pacific, Eurasian and Philippine plates come together. Northern Japan is on top of the western tip of the North American plate. Southern Japan sits mostly above the Eurasian plate. This leads to the formation of volcanoes such as Mount Unzen and Mount Fuji. Movements along these plate boundaries also present the risk of tsunamis to the island nation. The Pacific Coastal zone, on the east coast of Japan, is particularly vulnerable as it is very densely populated.

The 2011 Japan Earthquake: Tōhoku

Japan experienced one of its largest seismic events on March 11 2011. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred 70km off the coast of the northern island of Honshu where the Pacific and North American plate meet. It is the largest recorded earthquake to hit Japan and is in the top five in the world since records began in 1900. The earthquake lasted for six minutes.

A map to show the location of the 2011 Japan Earthquake

The earthquake had a significant impact on the area. The force of the megathrust earthquake caused the island of Honshu to move east 2.4m. Parts of the Japanese coastline dr[[ed by 60cm. The seabed close to the focus of the earthquake rose by 7m and moved westwards between 40-50m. In addition to this, the earthquake shifted the Earth 10-15cm on its axis.

The earthquake triggered a tsunami which reached heights of 40m when it reached the coast. The tsunami wave reached 10km inland in some places.

What were the social impacts of the Japanese earthquake in 2011?

The tsunami in 2011 claimed the lives of 15,853 people and injured 6023. The majority of the victims were over the age of 60 (66%). 90% of the deaths was caused by drowning. The remaining 10% died as the result of being crushed in buildings or being burnt. 3282 people were reported missing, presumed dead.

Disposing of dead bodies proved to be very challenging because of the destruction to crematoriums, morgues and the power infrastructure. As the result of this many bodies were buried in mass graves to reduce the risk of disease spreading.

Many people were displaced as the result of the tsunami. According to Save the Children 100,000 children were separated from their families. The main reason for this was that children were at school when the earthquake struck. In one elementary school, 74 of 108 students and 10 out of 13 staff lost their lives.

More than 333000 people had to live in temporary accommodation. National Police Agency of Japan figures shows almost 300,000 buildings were destroyed and a further one million damaged, either by the quake, tsunami or resulting fires. Almost 4,000 roads, 78 bridges and 29 railways were also affected. Reconstruction is still taking place today. Some communities have had to be relocated from their original settlements.

What were the economic impacts of the Japanese earthquake in 2011?

The estimated cost of the earthquake, including reconstruction, is £181 billion. Japanese authorities estimate 25 million tonnes of debris were generated in the three worst-affected prefectures (counties). This is significantly more than the amount of debris created during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. 47,700 buildings were destroyed and 143,300 were damaged. 230,000 vehicles were destroyed or damaged. Four ports were destroyed and a further 11 were affected in the northeast of Japan.

There was a significant impact on power supplies in Japan. 4.4 million households and businesses lost electricity. 11 nuclear reactors were shut down when the earthquake occurred. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was decommissioned because all six of its reactors were severely damaged. Seawater disabled the plant’s cooling systems which caused the reactor cores to meltdown, leading to the release of radioactivity. Radioactive material continues to be released by the plant and vegetation and soil within the 30km evacuation zone is contaminated. Power cuts continued for several weeks after the earthquake and tsunami. Often, these lasted between 3-4 hours at a time. The earthquake also had a negative impact on the oil industry as two refineries were set on fire during the earthquake.

Transport was also negatively affected by the earthquake. Twenty-three train stations were swept away and others experienced damage. Many road bridges were damaged or destroyed.

Agriculture was affected as salt water contaminated soil and made it impossible to grow crops.

The stock market crashed and had a negative impact on companies such as Sony and Toyota as the cost of the earthquake was realised.  Production was reduced due to power cuts and assembly of goods, such as cars overseas, were affected by the disruption in the supply of parts from Japan.

What were the political impacts of the Japanese earthquake in 2011?

Government debt was increased when it injects billions of yen into the economy. This was at a time when the government were attempting to reduce the national debt.

Several years before the disaster warnings had been made about the poor defences that existed at nuclear power plants in the event of a tsunami. A number of executives at the Fukushima power plant resigned in the aftermath of the disaster. A movement against nuclear power, which Japan heavily relies on, developed following the tsunami.

The disaster at Fukushima added political weight in European countries were anti-nuclear bodies used the event to reinforce their arguments against nuclear power.

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Great Japan earthquake of March 11, 2011: Tectonic and seismological aspects

• Published: 29 December 2011
• Volume 47 , pages 978–991, ( 2011 )

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• I. N. Tikhonov 1 &
• V. L. Lomtev 1  

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The tectonic and seismological aspects of the Great Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011 ( M w = 9.0), at the Pacific margin of the northeastern part of Honshu Island, are discussed. The structure and seismotectonic data, seismicity, and the reccurence rate of the great ( M ≥ 7.6) earthquakes throughout history and in modern times are represented. It is shown that the reccurence rate of the great events is about 40 years, and that of megaearthquakes is 1000 years or more. A seismic gap of about 800 km in length is found in the region under study, located to the south of latitude 39° N and full of aftershocks to the megaearthquake of March 11, 2011. This event is probably connected with the deep thrust along the Benioff zone and its structural front (Oyashio nappe at the middle Pacific continental slope). The aftershock sequences of this megaearthquake and the Sumatra-Andaman (2004) megaearthquake are compared. It is found that several of their key characteristics (the number of aftershocks, the magnitude of the strongest aftershock, and the time of its occurrence) for 25 days are comparable for both cases with a significant difference in the energies of aftershock processes. A probable scenario for the origination of a repeated shock with M ∼ 8.0 in the Japan Trench is discussed.

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Original Russian Text © I.N. Tikhonov, V.L. Lomtev, 2011, published in Geofizicheskie protsessy i biosfera, 2011, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 49–66.

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Tikhonov, I.N., Lomtev, V.L. Great Japan earthquake of March 11, 2011: Tectonic and seismological aspects. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 47 , 978–991 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433811080111

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Published : 29 December 2011

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Japan 2011 Earthquake Case Study

Japan earthquake and tsunami - 2011

Japan is an island nation located in East Asia.

Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia.

Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, together comprising about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area.

Japan is a major economic power and has the 3 rd  largest nominal GDP

Its GDP per capita is $34,739 or the 25 th  highest in the world in 2011

 Population is approximately 127 million people, which is the 10 th  largest population in the world.

One of the world’s highest life expectancy at 81.25 years of age.

Ageing population with people 23% of the population are over 60 years old

fertility rate below replacement level at 1.39 children per woman while the uk’s fertility rate is 1.9

Occurred at 2:46pm Tokyo time on the 11 th  of March 2011.

It was a Magnitude 9 earthquake its amplitude was 100x that of Haiti’s 7.0

Lasted for 3-6 minuets but there were strong aftershocks.

The epicentre was 24 km deep, was 72 KM off the coast of sendai.

A 400 to 500 km long segment of the north american plate which was being subducted

Japan lies at a major triple junction of three major plates which interact in a complex and unpredictable way. The leading edge of the Pacific plate subducts beneath the westward moving Eurasian plate creating the worlds deepest known trench i.e. Marianas trench. In this same area the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the Philippine plate .

Factors that contributed to the vunerability:

Off Sendai there is a very old oceanic crust which is cooler and denser, it was assumed that the crust would easily slide into the mantle so only small earthquakes are predicted.

Warping of the pacific plate means that it gets stuck rather than sliding smoothly into the mantle causing pressure build up.

Rugged Ria coastline, many inlets caused tsunami waves to be concentrated, causing waves to encroach further.

70% of Japan is mountainous, making settlements cramped into narrow low lying coastal areas.

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Much of japans land is reclaimed which is very susceptible to liquefaction or ground shaking potentially causing landslides

Government officials admitted that officials were too complacent & believed in technical infallibility.

Effects of the Earthquake:

Primary effects:

Magnitude quake of 9 that lasted for 3-6 minutes.

This caused lots of ground shaking that triggered lots of secondary effects

Secondary effects:

An 10-meter tsunami was seen at the port in Sendai, near the epicenter.

Japan’s east coast was moved up 4meters out into the Pacific Ocean, some areas sunk by more than a meter.

Ground shaking caused buildings to collapse; some caught fire due to gas pipes bursting.

The tsunami swept inland, mainly along the north-east coast swallowing boats homes vehicles trees and anything else.

50 sq kilometres of land were flooded.

When water receded trains, had vanished, ships and cars were tossed everywhere.

Tokyo’s earthquake proof skyscrapers were swaying lots however damage was limited.  

An oil refinery exploded in the town of Ichihara, a commuter town of Tokyo.

In Sendai the areas nearest to the focus, areas near the sea were very badly damaged, but inland near the city was largely undamaged.

In Mionami-Sanriku only half the population of 17000 escaped alive and nearly all buildings were destroyed.

Over 25,000 dead or missing due to the tsunami however many more would have perished if the early warning system hadn’t been in place.

Aftershocks continued for two weeks terrifying people, there were 700+ recorded. A tsunami measured at anywhere from one meter to 7.3 meters hit at various places along the coast

Aftershocks were continuing, with one hitting magnitude 7.1, according to the USGS. Tall buildings swayed violently in central Tokyo as the aftershocks hit.

Other effects:  

Half a million people were made homeless for weeks,  150,000 people lived in temporary shelters.

At least 1 million homes did not have running water, 6 million homes did not have electricity & cars queued for rationed petrol.

There were shortages for food, water & medical supplies.

Hydrogen explosion and the melt down of two nuclear reactors in Fukushima nuclear powerplant caused wide spread panic and evacuation due to the spread of nuclear material. They melted down due to the tsunami breaking over the 8meter high barrier and engulfing the backup generators which cooled the rods.

Panic selling occurred in global markets due to the panic of a nuclear disaster

Responses:  

Immediate responses:

A Tsunami warning was issued 3 minutes after the earthquake.

 Rescue workers searched the decimated coastline of submerged homes for survivors.

Helicopters plucked survivors from wreckage or rooftops.

100,000 soldiers were mobilised to establish order, distribute bottled water, food and petrol .

Offers of aid came in from lots of different countries including the USA and China.

The UK sent 63 fire service search and rescue specialists, two rescue dogs and a medical support team. People were rescued after being trapped for several days.

An exclusion zone was set up was set up around the Fukushima nuclear plant. Homes were evacuated and iodine tablets which prevent radiation sickness were distributed.

There were no cases of looting or violence.

Social networking such as Twitter were bringing updates on the situation far earlier than the media, showing how modern technology can be used in disaster situations.

Long term responses:

Japan has the world’s highest debt and the cost of the repair will force the government to borrow more still.

Private companies faced hardship due to businesses being destroyed, however Japan is a developed MEDC and will recover over time.

Japan’s previously thought infallible tsunami defences will be reviewed and rebuilt stronger so that if another tsunami occurred of the same scale the area would be better protected.

Now what are the developments in 2012?

Japan still has a quarantine zone around the Fukushima plant where radiation levels are high.

Caesium levels in fish stocks off the coast for Japan are still high, this may be a long lasting effect on the environment that could cause damage to the food chain or decreased biodiversity.

Fears of more nuclear disasters such as Japan may occur in Europe for example In Germany, Europe's largest economy and power market, seven nuclear power plants have been closed .

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