The Japan Earthquake

Superior Essays
Japan Earthquake The Japan earthquake occurred off the Pacific coast of Tohoku on March 11, 2011 and was a magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake. The earthquake is also often referred to in Japan as the Great East Japan Earthquake or the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded to hit Japan, and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record keeping. The main earthquake was preceded by a number of foreshocks, and hundreds of aftershocks. Japan experienced over 1000 aftershocks since the earthquake has occurred, with 80 being over a magnitude of 6.0 and several over 7.0. Due the earthquake Japan was also struck with a major tsunami that brought a great amount of destruction along the Pacific …show more content…
Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, due to being located on the Ring of Fire, but is also one the best equipped to handle them. Every year the country has disaster prevention day on September 1, the anniversary of the 1923 Tokyo earthquake. At many Japanese schools, students are very familiar with earthquake drills. Drills take place monthly, with children being taught to go under their desk and grasp to table legs until the quake has stopped (Rauhala, 2011). Japan has the world’s most sophisticated earthquake early warning systems and also has a tsunami warning system with sensors that monitor seismic activity 24/7 (Rauhala, 2011). Tsunami safety has been a focus of coastal city planning throughout the nation. The east coast of Japan, where tsunamis frequently hit, earthquake and tsunami proof shelters have been built and tsunami walls and floodgates have also been constructed. In 1981 Japan’s building guidelines were updated with an eye to earthquake science and again revised in 2000 with requirements and mandatory checks (Rauhala, 2011). Of course, all the preparation in the world cannot stop an earthquake from occurring. Though 2011 Tohoku earthquake had taken many lives and caused much destruction, it would have been much worse if not for Japan’s …show more content…
Since the 2011 earthquake the Japanese have since look to improve their tsunami walls, drills, and home locations. Many of the walls to help protect the people were not high enough to with stand the amount of water that came with tsunami, and water simply flowed over the wall or were destroyed. In Japan earthquake and tsunami drills are held monthly to better prepare for a future disaster. Children are taught to go under their desk and grasp to table legs until the quake has stopped and schools with multiple stories have chutes for them to escape the building and get to solid ground. Japan also has an early earthquake and tsunami warning system in place that runs 24/7. Lastly, the government has looked to move neighborhoods near the coastal zone or flood zones to higher ground. Keeping homes higher would prevent fewer homes from being destroyed in a future

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The 1964 Anchorage Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami What is commonly referred to as the Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami occurred on Good Friday in the Spring, March 27, 1964 at 5:36pm killing from 9-15 people, depending on the source. The resulting Tsunami killed approximately 130 people and caused $311 million in damage (2.4 billion in 2013 dollars). The epicenter of the largest earthquake ever recorded in U. S. history, 9.2 magnitude, was estimated to be approximately 15 miles below the Prince William Sound and about 74 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska. The earthquake was felt all over the mainland and as far away as 480 miles in Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gloria Hurtado Earthquake

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    At Sonoma State University, officials used ShakeOut to test their emergency notification system, which sent campuswide emails, text messages and phone calls about the exercise and encouraged everyone to participate, according to Missy Brunetta, SSU’s director for emergency services. Faculty were asked to incorporate earthquake preparedness and emergency response into their curricula, even if their instruction schedule barred them from being able to participate in the physical exercise, Brunetta said. That is key because some students might never have experienced an earthquake before or grown up in an area where preparing for one was uncommon, Brunetta. “We want to make sure they’re given the exposure and they understand the procedure,” she…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On April 18,1906, the city of San Francisco experienced an earthquake known as “The Great Quake” leaving thousands of people hurt and/or dead. Due to the severe damage the earthquake had on the city, it left many homes destroyed. Much of the damaged resulted in people being homeless. Geologist have observed the impact that the earthquake left on San Francisco and the people. Since then, scientist have suggested what precautions we can do to help prevent severe damage to us and homes.…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Earthquake Dbq

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Earthquakes can be destructive, by destroying houses, killing citizens, and tearing families farther apart. In the Philippines, the 7.2 magnitude earthquake did just this. There were 3,512,281 people affected by this massive earthquake. The disaster happened in 2013, leaving 36,645 houses damaged in the rubble. Most People respond to a natural disaster by gathering materials, spreading the word, and receiving government aid.…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Richard Lewis

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Another quote from the second published article states “Despite there being several hours between the earthquake and the impact of the tsunami, nearly all the victims were taken completely by surprise. With no adequate warning systems in place, there was no alert issued to people to seek safety.” Like mentioned before, this quote describes how the tsunami was a total surprise and there was not…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The earthquake that triggered the tsunami happened at 2:46 pm. The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0. The Japan Meteorological Agency tried to warn Japan after the earthquake and before the tsunami hit, people had received a text message on their phones got the warning as the earth was shaking. It was underwater and caused by the pacific plate subducting under Japan.…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Damages were not nearly as serious as it would be today, mostly because Southern California was sparsely populated. The effects of the earthquake were quite dramatic, even frightening. Were the Fort Tejon shock to happen today, the damage would easily run into billions of dollars, and the loss of life would be substantial. On March 10, 1933, a 6.4 earthquake hit the Newport-Inglewood Fault, causing serious damage in long Beach and other communities. The earthquake resulted in 120 deaths and more than $50 million in property damage.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On April 18, 1906 Mark Faint woke up early morning only to hear screams and yells for help. He looked out the window only to see what seemed to be death overcoming people every second. “The city was in flames, killing people by the second.” The San Francisco Earthquake was catastrophic because of its massive destruction, huge amount of death, and raging fires. One of the most destructive earthquakes occurred April 18, 1906 in the popular city, San Francisco.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    On April 18,1906 at 5:12 a.m. San Francisco was struck by an earthquake with a magnitude ranging around 7.7 and 7.8 at the Richter scale. The earthquakes epicenter was located just about two miles outside from the center of San Francisco. With this large of a magnitude, the earthquake erupted causing widespread damage and thousands of deaths. Not only did buildings collapsed but also the earthquake ruptured gas pipes that caused widespread fires that ignited most of the city for several days.…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Damage of 1906 San Francisco Earthquake The residents of San Francisco were familiar with earthquakes, at least those earthquakes who would rattle windows and china cabinets and those who would do little to no damage. The earthquake of 1906 was the most catastrophic in California history, as well as the most destructive in United States history. The earthquake happened on April 18, 1906, at 5:15 a.m. when the ground shook violently for an average of 40 seconds. It was stated that the magnitude of the earthquake was 7.8 to 8.3, which was created by the North American and Pacific plates moving by more than 15 feet while the annual average is 2 inches. The fault is characterized by lateral motion where the Pacific plate moves north.…

    • 2097 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On January 12th of 2010 there was a massive earthquake that accrued in Haiti. The earthquake didn’t just last for that one day on the 12th of January there where still 52 aftershocks within 12 days after the earthquake occurred. Haiti has had other earthquakes in the past like…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Thera Earthquake

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1. Introduction The Thera Catastrophe is a topic of debate for many scientists around the world. The eruption happened around 3500 years ago.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Santa Cruz earthquake happened on October 17, 1989, in San Francisco Bay Area and magnitude was 6.9. 67 people were killed, and over 5 billion damages followed the earthquake. (History.com Staff, 2009) Community and people think this earthquake occurred in San Francisco area. However, there were other affected cities such as Los Gatos, Watsonville, and Santa Cruz, etc.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Topic Suggestion #1: Natural Disasters and How to get Ready for It Analysis: Self: I often worry about natural disasters because I live right on the San Andrea’s Fault. Also, when I see the world news, I always hear that many people died because of natural disasters.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prevention measures are aimed at minimizing the impact of a tsunami in terms of loss of life, primarily by reducing the density of occupancy in tsunami inundation zones, especially for tsunami run-up areas. As shown in Table 3, prevention measures mainly refer to land use management such as open land development regulations, planning and zoning, and open space preservation. For example, open space preservation refers to the maintenance or to the conversion of specific at-risk areas to parks or agriculture land. Property protection measures such as acquisition, relocation, and rebuilding can also be used as mitigation measures in order to protect critical facilities (e.g., hospitals, Emergency Operation Centers [EOC], schools, and so on). Property…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays