Subductive plate boundary - Pacific subducts beneath North American plates
Epicentre 70km off the coast of Honshu
Key Facts
Lasted 6 minutes
Undersea megathrust earthquake
Magnitude 9.0Mw
Earth shifted on its axis 10-25cm
400km coastline dropped by 0.6m
Seabed rose 7m
Tsunami waves reached 40m high
125 km2 icebergs broke off in the Antarctic
Aftershocks reached 7.0-8.0Mw
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Impacts
Social
16,000 dead
6000 injured
Mass crematoria and death count increased risks of spread of disease
100,000 children affected
2000 children orphaned or lost one parent
One elementary school lost 74/108 students and 10/13 staff
Reconstruction of infrastructure still taking place 5 years after the earthquake
230,000 vehicles damaged or destroyed
Economic
£181 billion cost of reconstruction
10% of Japans fishing ports damaged
4.4 million households and thousands of businesses lost energy
11 reactors at Fukishima power plant shut down; 30km evacuation zone developed
3-4 hour power cuts for several weeks
2 oil refineries set on fire
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Impacts
Costly cleanup required for the 25 million tonnes of debris
23 train stations swept away
Farmland disrupted by salt water
Shares dropped from ¥108 to ¥76 to the $
Political
Billions of yen invested into the economy to aid recovery, although reducing debt was a main political aim
Movement against nuclear power; safety and regulations became a prime political issue; power plant executives resigned; support foreign arguments against nuclear power
Environmental
1.5m tsunami wave overwhelmed Midway Atoll, drowing 110,000 nesting birds in a wildlife refuge
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Responses
Short Term
Warnings from the JMSA
Tsunami warning issued 20 minutes prior; many people did not react quick enough and the timing was insufficient
Self-Defense Forces sent in to help recover and save lives
Many countries (e.g. UK) sent search and rescue teams as well as NGOs
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