Effects of Japan earthquake & Tsunami

Primary effects (direct):
o Destruction of thousands of homes
o Flooding of large areas of industrial and farmland
o A ship carrying 100 people was washed away
o A dam in north east of Fukushima burst its banks flooding many homes
o Power, gas, TV, mobile cables disrupted
o Death toll of 15,400
· Secondary effects (in direct):
o Half a million are homeless living in shelters
o Disruption of road and rail meant rescue workers to reach remote locations
o Damage to underground gas pipelines led to fires and ignited floating wood
o Impact on oil supplies are refineries were ablaze
o Failure in the cooling system of the Fukushima nuclear power plant – radioactive materials escaped (more
than 4000 times the normal radiation levels
o There was a loss of £90 billion on the Japanese stock exchange the day after the disaster