Tsunami Earthquake And Tsunami, By Bruce Lee

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")

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.

Throughout this unit, the Science in Practice class has been learning about natural disasters and the impact it has on humans and environment. The natural disaster that will be discussed in this report is the Boxing Day Tsunami, which occurred on the 26th of December, 2004. The tsunami took place in the Indian Ocean. Due to, two tectonics plates, the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate colliding, causing an underwater earthquake. Due to this awful disaster, people were killed, injured, diagnosed with diseases, homes and businesses were destroyed, the environment damaged.

Tsunamis occur when an earthquake happens in the ocean and the energy goes to the water creating huge waves. Tsunamis are very dangerous they can be so strong that they wash away the city, harm thousands, and cause hundreds of thousands to billions of dollars in damage. “A giant tsunami along the West Coast would wash away coastal towns, destroy U.S. Highway 101 and cause $70 billion in damage. More than 100 bridges would be lost, power lines toppled and coastal towns isolated. Residents would have as few as 15 minutes’ notice to flee to higher ground, and as many as 10,000 would die” (Dangerous tsunami threat off U.S. West Coast). This shows what kind of damage this geo-process can

(Events of Fukushima Nuclear disaster) The Fukushima Nuclear disaster had many effects on the environment and health, some of its effects on the health are, infection of skin and that is mainly caused because of radiation and chemicals in the water after the incident and little supply of clean water, it also impacted the citizens physiologically (mainly the mothers, kids and workers) who might have diseases as anxiety and depression, problems in pregnancy, related to deficiency of iodine in the body, and some hormones not functioning properly, all these causes might lead to still birth, and miscarriage and finally, radiation syndrome which is caused because of the release of massive amounts of radiation, spread of cancer (as thyroid cancer) because of radiation, and ascend of genetic inheritable diseases As in Diagram 2 (Health Concerns in Fukushima), we can signify that the percentages of cancer increased highly because of the disaster in comparison to nowadays and especially between people of ages (1month-20years)

While reading The Guardian article, I found it alarming the environmental impacts that resulted from this disaster. According to Paleoseismicity.org, sediments from Japan’s coast were found up to three miles inland. Homes, businesses, cars, and boats were swept into the sea and can still be found today washing onto the shores of British Columbia. You can see the images here: https://postmedia.us.janrainsso.com/static/server.html?origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vancouversun.com%2Fnews%2FPhotos%2BJapanese%2Btsunami%2Bdebris%2Bstill%2Bwashing%2Bshores%2F10877860%2Fstory.html. It is estimated that up to 1.5 million tons of debris was washed into the Pacific Ocean. As a result, the Pacific Ocean garbage patch gained a vast blanket of waste. The waste dumped was equivalent to what gets tossed into the Pacific in just one year.

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.

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.

When an 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Japan on March 11th, 2011, it was the first of a series of horrific events that Japan would be forced to endure. Many homes, families, properties, and belongings were lost on that day. And when the tsunami rolled over the island, many believed that it was over for them. Not only had people’s lives been put in disarray and desolation, but there had not even been simple necessities available. Food. Water. Communications. And electricity. When the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had been hit by the earthquake and tsunami, the reactors were shut down and so was the electricity. Over the course of months the reactors suffered, extreme heat, fires, hydrogen explosions, and radiation exposures. At the time,

The book The Killing Sea, was created by a person named Richard Lewis, and was based off true events of a tsunami attacking Aceh, Indonesia, on December 25, 2004. Richard Lewis wanted to send a message towards the readers, which was, “Enjoy everything you have now, because possibly one day, everything could be taken away.” In The Killing Sea, the two main characters were introduced. Ruslan, and Sarah. Sarah is a Western white girl, who has a father, mother, and a little brother named Peter. The two teenagers, Ruslan and Sarah, comes face to face with a tsunami, which left them separated from their parents. Sarah’s brother is in need of a doctor, while Ruslan is on the search for his only father. Which leaves Ruslan and Sarah, to test their

The Japanese were always keeping information on all the earthquakes and tsunamis were affecting the world was causing them to happen. They were trying to study what were the main causes and how to prevent them and how to eventually prepare for these natural causes of mother nature. They understood that tsunamis were the result of earthquakes, yet no one felt the ground shake before the Genroku event. It was a massive event that no one felt coming or even saw it, it was one of those silent but deadly moves. The wave had no discernible origin it was an orphan tsunami. They kept records on the tsunamis for the future and how to better the safely of the citizens and for the human

On 11 March 2011 in Japan, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was seriously damaged by an earthquake and the radioactive substances were leaked to the surrounding. Local people had to evacuate away and up till now they are living under threat.

There also the issue of health impact that was addressed in the film. There were several people who were injured physically and mentally from the aftermath of the earthquake. For example Yuuki was struck by large piece of metal after a radio tower happen to fall. Due to this he received a concussion and because he didn’t proper brain treatment for it he eventually died. This was a similar cause of actual deaths that occurred in earthquakes. In real life there have been medical researchers in Japan that have perform some health surveys amongst the population to measure the condition of health after enduring these earthquakes. It was later determined more research would be required to resolve some long term mental illnesses that affect patients.

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)

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.