Japan earthquake
geophysical effects
Honshu island moved 2.4m east earth shifted on its axis 10-25cm tsunami wave of 1.5m drowned 110,000 refugee birds
political impacts
Japanese government invested billions of yen, increasing debt large movement against nuclear power, anti-nuclear lobby in Germany used the incident as part of their argument against nuclear power
social impacts
16,000 died 6000 injured 90% of deaths due to drowning mass damage to morgues lead to issues of disposing bodies 100,000 children affected one primary school lost 74/108 students and 10/13 staff
how many high intensity earthquakes have occurred since 2000
23, all above 7.0 Mw (moment magnitude)
how many earthquakes are there in Japan every day
400
how strong was the tohoku earthquake
9.0 Mw
when was the tohoku earthquake
11th march 2011
how many fatalities have there been since 2000 due to earthquakes
almost 16,000
where did tohoku occur
along the plate boundary between the pacific and North American plates, epicentre was 70km NE of Honshu island
economic impacts
cost was £181bn 45,700 buildings destroyed 15 ports directly affected 4.4m households lost electricity all six reactors at Fukushima were so badly damaged the plant was decommissioned 25m tonnes of debris created
what is japan's tectonic setting
seismic energy created by plates which create volcanic activity, earthquakes bring risks of tsunamis, densely populated coastal zones bring risk of mortality (Tokyo 36m)
