Operation Tomodachi Analysis

Earthquakes have afflicted the world since its inception. The sudden release of energy from volcanoes or displacing of earth plates can result in disasters of extreme magnitude. These usually naturally occurring phenomenon have been responsible from wiping out entire towns throughout history and until today continue to produce major loss of life and infrastructure. It can take years for a city or country to recover from a major event of this kind and when a third world country is involved, the result is usually exponentially worse than in a developed country. In the past decades Japan, Chile and Haiti have suffered the devastation an earthquake produces. This document will concentrate in Haiti, a small country in the Caribbean. On

On March 11, 2011 an earthquake that measured 9.3 Richter scale occurred 43 miles of the coast of Northern Japan. This caused tremendous amounts of damage to the island of Tohouku. What happened is the quake initially destroyed buildings and property. However, a tsunami occurred, which devastated the region and the Fukushima nuclear power plant. ("Fukushima Accident")

Many people in the Tōhoku region experienced an electricity outage for up to a week in most areas; resulting in people not able to adequately heat their homes. The electric repair crew worked continuously to restore power to the residents of the Tōhoku region. Humanitarian relief came in from many countries to help Japan deal with the recovery of the earthquake. The United States military provided humanitarian aid under “Operation Tomodachi” to the disaster areas, the four military services helped set up tempory shelters for survivors and provided badly needed food and medical supplies. The United States, United Kingdom, France, and Australian governments sent in civilian and military search and rescue teams to help try to find survivors and to help locate the deceased. One of these teams found an infant two days after the tsunami; eventually, twelve people were found floating a couple of miles off the eastern shore. Most countries sent in extraction teams to retrieve their citizens to relocate back to their country of

The damages were catastrophic as houses lay in ruin and debris littered the roads. There were mudslides and fallen rocks that paved the roads and made them impassible for vehicles to get through. Ultimately by the roads being clogged up the response time by rescue workers and essential personal were hampered. This also made it exceptionally difficult for supplies to be rushed to the locations for the earthquake survivors. As some were digging and excavating for survivors they were being halted by aftershocks and falling debris from above. Approximately 8000 people were killed either by their houses caving in or by the other disasters this earthquake triggered. It was a real life tragedy that

When a large magnitude earthquake strikes, roads might buckle, dams sometimes fail, and buildings can collapse. As more earthquakes occur, building regulations have been altered to ensure that buildings experience minimal damage. The Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System (TAPS), which transports oil from Prudhoe Bay to the Gulf of Alaska, had engineering in place so when the earthquake struck the Denali fault in Alaska in 2002, the pipeline didn’t leak any oil (Nyman, Johnson, and Roach, 2003). The success of the pipeline came from its supporting structures. The engineering used in the TAPS should be applied to buildings in areas that are also prone to large magnitude earthquakes, such as Washington and California. California is home to the San Andreas fault, a major transform fault, just like the Denali, and Washington is home to the Seattle Basin, whose geometry and geological units amplify main and aftershock waves. Washington and California should first implement better building regulations, and if the premise is successful, it could be applied anywhere large magnitude earthquakes occur.

Natural disasters are a huge challenge for the planet because of the adverse effects that are associated with them. One of the major earthquakes to have shaken the earth is the Great Sendai Earthquake or Great Tōhoku Earthquake that occurred in 2011. The event started when a powerful earthquake hit the northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, and resulted in a widespread damage on land. A series of massive tsunamis later devastated many parts of the coastal regions of the country with the worst affected being the Tohoku region. The tsunami further resulted in a major nuclear accident that damaged distant regions on a power station located along the coast. The economic effects of the tsunami qualify it as one of the major natural disasters because it affected Japan’s economic stability as the country ended up resorting to importing as an alternative to cover the loss.

The Fukushima disaster was caused by an earthquake and its following tsunami which caused a failure in the backup systems (World Nuclear Association, 2016). The tsunami knocked out the generators that powered the cooldown processes for three of the Fukushima power plants which caused the radiation leaks and other complications. Consequentially, the disaster was initially classified as a level 5 on the INES scale. Further investigation after the disaster was under control changed it to a level 7 disaster, the highest level on the INES scale. The estimated radioactive releases were about one tenth of Chernobyl, the worst nuclear disaster in history.

Living in Japan I knew we would experience earthquakes but I never thought I’d experience one so devastating to the whole country and nearby countries. March 11, 2011 was suppose to be a normal Friday, but at exactly 2:46pm, after I got home from school, everything changed. We were hit by a massive earthquake. I was terrified, so many thought were going through my head. I didn’t know if my friends and family were okay. I was leaning against the wall watching my cabinets open and cups fly out and picture frames fall and break. I could see the towers behind my house swaying back and forth as loud sirens went off all over the base. It was like this for 2 minutes. The longest and most terrifying 2 minutes of my life. Throughout the day there were many aftershocks. It felt like they were never going to end. Later that day a nuclear power plant exploded and the air was

The tsunami waves reached heights up to 128 feet at Miyako city and traveled inland as far as six miles. A tsunami is a series of large sea waves caused by a large displacement of water. The tsunami flooded an estimated area of approximately 217 square miles in Japan. The massive waves destroyed large three-story buildings where many people seeked for safety. Within hours of the first tsunami hit Hawaii and set off multiple warning to Canada, Alaska, South America, the United States, the Oregon coast, and the Pacific.

By June of 1945, the United States had been dropping bomb after bomb on many of the cities of Japan without any real sort of retaliation from the Japanese for over six months (Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Wikipedia). Why? Because by then, Japan’s military forces had all but cease to exist. Cities had been reduced to ruins by the never-ending attacks. Bombs fell out of the sky like rain from storm clouds. Production of weapons, or anything, in what was left of buildings and factories that once stood was virtually impossible (Weber). A fourth of the population was left homeless and near death from starvation. Transportation was practically nonexistent. The country of Japan was on the verge of collapse, and they knew it. Little did they know it was only going to get worse.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred off the east coast of Japan, generating massive tsunamis, which severely damaged coastal areas. The earthquake and tsunami also hit the nuclear power plants (NPP) located in the coastal area in Tohoku and led to the loss of the entire core cooling capacity of three reactors of Fukushima Daiichi NPP and severe damage to the nuclear cores.1 Although deaths related to the release of radiation have not been reported six years after the disaster, the Japanese government and medical professionals have noticed an increase in mental health problems in emergency workers and evacuees. Numerous evacuations, physical detachment from homes and personal belongings, and stigmas between evacuees have been

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On March 11th, 2011, the northern section of Japan was hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a 15 meter tsunami, causing the death of over 15000 people. (Spacey) Even though the earthquake and the tsunami caused a tremendous amount of deaths in the northern region of Japan, the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant caused a severe damage to northern Japan’s ecosystem that people still cannot go back to their homes; despite it is 4 years after the disaster. After the earthquake, the tsunami destroyed the power supply used by Fukushima’s three nuclear power stations, causing severe levels of meltdown to be occurred inside the reactors in the timespan of 3 days. It was not until 2 weeks after the tragedy, when the reactors were finally stabilized, and took several months to approach what is called a “cold shutdown condition”, in which the fission in the reactors are completely stopped.(Fukushima A)

The earthquake made the nuclear leak, and the nuclear leak not only affected the human activities, but also affected the environment as well. The nuclear radiation affects the soil and the sea around the station. Many fish died and the sea was polluted.

In March of 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake hit Japan, releasing a dangerous tsunami. Japan was not expecting the magnitude of the earthquake and tsunami, and endured much hardship after the disaster. The effects of the tsunami can still be seen in Japan today through its residents, economy, and through actions that have been taken to further protect residents from future disasters. Though the Japan 2011 tsunami is one of the most destructive tsunamis ever recorded, dangerous tsunamis continue to take place across the globe. The Japan 2011 tsunami not only affected the inhabitants of Japan, but also affected people around the world. After disasters such as this, each area must endure the aftermath of the disaster and recover from the effects.