Geography case study - Tohoku Earthquake

Place

Tohoku Earthquake - MEDC - North East of main island honshu

Death

20,352 people

Injuries

5,314 people

Displaced

130,927 people

Power supply

4\.4 million households in NE japan lost electricity and power blackouts were felt in some areas for up to 3 months

Building destroyed

332,395 buildings

Hospital

300 hospital damaged, 11 destroyed

Economy

The world bank estimated a cost of $235 billion for the damage and thought this would take 5 years to rebuild

Further casualties

922 people have died as a result of the harsh living conditions since earthquake

Tsunami

A 40m tsunami was generated which killed thousands of lives. Wave travelled east towards alaska and Chile. Flooding caused by waves polluted and affected drinking water

Land subsidence

Some coastal areas experienced subsidence and the back front dropped by 50cm.this made the area more vulnerable to flooding

Landmass movement

The quake moved NE japan 2.4m closer to N America, making parts of the Japanese island landmass wider than before

Liquefaction

Occurred in many of the parts of Tokyo built on reclaimed land. 1046 buildings were damaged

Coastline movement

A 250 mile stretch of coastline dropped by 0.6m allowing the tsunami wave to travel further inland

Earthquake prediction

Japan spent over 70 million trying to predict earthquake before they happen. They use laser to measure possible earth movements

National disaster prevention day

Every year on 1st sept the Japanese government holds earthquake and tsunami drills

Rebuilding

Japanese government announced that more than 23 trillion yen over the next 10 years would be made available to adi rebuilding programes

Aid

Aid organisation in Japan and worldwide responsed to the disaster. The Japanese red cross reported over 1 billion in donations