Japan, Tohoku
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Causes
The Japan earthquake was undersea mega thrust. All earthquakes of this sort appear at a subduction zones at convergent boundaries (destructive). This occurred in Japan as the Pacific Plate is moving under the North American Plate. This happens as the Pacific Plate is oceanic and younger, heavier and therefore sinks. The North American Plate is continental crust and older, lighter and permanent. So as the convection currents slowly move the Pacific Plate under the North American Plate at a rate of 8-9 cm per year. Friction is present during this process and may cause the plates to become stuck. Tension builds up and is released when the plates break through the tension creating a earthquake. This resulted in a reverse dip-slip fault in which the North American Plate moved up and the Pacific Plate moved down. As a result of the earthquake, tsunami waves of up to 40m followed.
Social Impacts
Japan's society is used to earthquakes as they live on such a active tectonic boundary. Japan has well structured buildings that are earthquake proof and follow are certain law. Teams have been specialized to deal with earthquakes and children and adults alike have been taught what to do in a earthquake and practices earthquake drills. But for some people this would have been a new experience of an earthquake this size. Though for some, people may not be able to carry forward in a normal life with an estimated (including tsunami) 15,800 people dead, 6,100 injured and 2,600 missing. Also, after the earthquake and tsunami, 1.2 million homes were left without power and 1.4 million without water. People were also left without homes or damaged homes as 4,700 were destroyed and a further 50,000 damaged.
Economic Impacts
Japan has the third his Gross Domestic Products(GDP) and it will have large effects worldwide. And after the earthquake stock markets around the world plummeted and $626 billion was lost off companies' values overall. Imports and exports of Japan will also got affected. Though what seems like a good opportunity for other companies to peak was not the case. For an example cars are a major export of Japan and though other countries would need to increase production, key/important parts of cars came from Japan and therefore other countries will not be able to increase production; other examples of hi-tech electronics. After the earthquake Japan will not be needing to import the same equipment which can be seen in the drop in soya beans from the US. Japan was quite fortunate of where the earthquake struck as it counts to about 5% of all the country's GDP and could of been a lot worse. The Japanese Yen also fell sharply but regained most of it relativity quickly (hours). The earthquake also put some ports, electricity, oil, power plants, wind power and transport out of service for some time.
Environmental Impacts
The earthquake caused the Japan Trench to move 50m south-east and rise 7m and also caused landslides on the seabed. The earthquake also was estimated to move the Earth's axis by 10-25cm making the Earth's rotation increase and shorten each day by 1.8 microsecond. The earthquake also lead to a tsunami which was the main part of the destruction of cities. But the main environmental factor of the earthquake and tsunami was from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants. The Fukushima, Daiichi and Danin, Onagawa and Tokai Nuclear Power Plants were all shut down. The Onagawa Nuclear Station remained largely undamaged with it shutting down automatically and the tsunami wall withstanding the waves. However at the Fukushima Power Plants the tsunami disabled the emergency generator to cool the reactors. At Fukushima Daiichi there were three large explosions and radiation leakage which lead to a mass evacuation of about 200,000 people. Fukushima Daiichi was given a level 5 out of 7 from International Nuclear Event Scale and was predicted to be the next Chernobyl. Fortunately, it was not as bad but is said to be the second worst nuclear disaster of all time. The radiation level outside of the plant were up to 8 times more than normal levels and radioactive particles were found in the water of 7 cities and found in soil of Fukushima and few places had radiation in food. The radiation and the rebuild is the main problem Japan is facingafter the earthquake and tsunami.
The Japan earthquake was undersea mega thrust. All earthquakes of this sort appear at a subduction zones at convergent boundaries (destructive). This occurred in Japan as the Pacific Plate is moving under the North American Plate. This happens as the Pacific Plate is oceanic and younger, heavier and therefore sinks. The North American Plate is continental crust and older, lighter and permanent. So as the convection currents slowly move the Pacific Plate under the North American Plate at a rate of 8-9 cm per year. Friction is present during this process and may cause the plates to become stuck. Tension builds up and is released when the plates break through the tension creating a earthquake. This resulted in a reverse dip-slip fault in which the North American Plate moved up and the Pacific Plate moved down. As a result of the earthquake, tsunami waves of up to 40m followed.
Social Impacts
Japan's society is used to earthquakes as they live on such a active tectonic boundary. Japan has well structured buildings that are earthquake proof and follow are certain law. Teams have been specialized to deal with earthquakes and children and adults alike have been taught what to do in a earthquake and practices earthquake drills. But for some people this would have been a new experience of an earthquake this size. Though for some, people may not be able to carry forward in a normal life with an estimated (including tsunami) 15,800 people dead, 6,100 injured and 2,600 missing. Also, after the earthquake and tsunami, 1.2 million homes were left without power and 1.4 million without water. People were also left without homes or damaged homes as 4,700 were destroyed and a further 50,000 damaged.
Economic Impacts
Japan has the third his Gross Domestic Products(GDP) and it will have large effects worldwide. And after the earthquake stock markets around the world plummeted and $626 billion was lost off companies' values overall. Imports and exports of Japan will also got affected. Though what seems like a good opportunity for other companies to peak was not the case. For an example cars are a major export of Japan and though other countries would need to increase production, key/important parts of cars came from Japan and therefore other countries will not be able to increase production; other examples of hi-tech electronics. After the earthquake Japan will not be needing to import the same equipment which can be seen in the drop in soya beans from the US. Japan was quite fortunate of where the earthquake struck as it counts to about 5% of all the country's GDP and could of been a lot worse. The Japanese Yen also fell sharply but regained most of it relativity quickly (hours). The earthquake also put some ports, electricity, oil, power plants, wind power and transport out of service for some time.
Environmental Impacts
The earthquake caused the Japan Trench to move 50m south-east and rise 7m and also caused landslides on the seabed. The earthquake also was estimated to move the Earth's axis by 10-25cm making the Earth's rotation increase and shorten each day by 1.8 microsecond. The earthquake also lead to a tsunami which was the main part of the destruction of cities. But the main environmental factor of the earthquake and tsunami was from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants. The Fukushima, Daiichi and Danin, Onagawa and Tokai Nuclear Power Plants were all shut down. The Onagawa Nuclear Station remained largely undamaged with it shutting down automatically and the tsunami wall withstanding the waves. However at the Fukushima Power Plants the tsunami disabled the emergency generator to cool the reactors. At Fukushima Daiichi there were three large explosions and radiation leakage which lead to a mass evacuation of about 200,000 people. Fukushima Daiichi was given a level 5 out of 7 from International Nuclear Event Scale and was predicted to be the next Chernobyl. Fortunately, it was not as bad but is said to be the second worst nuclear disaster of all time. The radiation level outside of the plant were up to 8 times more than normal levels and radioactive particles were found in the water of 7 cities and found in soil of Fukushima and few places had radiation in food. The radiation and the rebuild is the main problem Japan is facingafter the earthquake and tsunami.