2011 Japan Earthquake Case Study Cards for June 2012 OCR Exam

·9.0 on the Richter Scale.

·11th March 2011

·Epicentre 130km East of Sendai Japan

·Tsunami hit North East coast

·Quake lasted 6 minutes

·5th largest recorded earthquake worldwide since 1900.

·Japan is located on the East edge of the Eurasian plate

·The pacific plate subducts under the Eurasian plate on a destructive plate boundary.

·The plates stuck building up tension which was released causing a sudden jolt.

·The energy released was equal to that of the UK’s annual energy output.

·Or equal to that of 2 million nuclear bombs.

·The yen and Japanese stocks fell sharply, but the yen soon rose back up.

 ·Fires in Tokyo air refinery and in the water front district.

·10m high wave hit Sendai.

·Tall buildings swayed violently with the shocks.

·Many flights and train services suspended.

·2 Nuclear power stations shut down in Fukishima, emergency generators were disabled.

·Nuclear meltdown after 3 weeks of visible explosions, releasing radiation.

·20, 000 confirmed dead.

·530, 000 displaced to 2, 500 evacuation centres.

·1.3 million homes without power or water. 4, 700 homes destroyed. And 50, 000 damaged.

·582 roads cut off, and 32 bridges destroyed.

·Japan was prepared for the Earthquake but not the Tsunami.

·A Tsunami warning was issues to 50 nations 3 minutes after the main quake.

·Japanese military forces sent in as well as fighter jets to access damage.

·Disaster control teams managing economic decline.

·91 countries offered aid including donations from charities and foreign rescue teams.

·New age innovations (e.g. Twitter) were more up to date than Media.

·Japan is one of the worlds most prepared countries for disasters.