Japan-2011-Earthquake-Case-Study
Japan earthquake and tsunami - 2011
Japan is an island nation located in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia. Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, together comprising about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan is a major economic power and has the 3rd largest nominal GDP Its GDP per capita is $34,739 or the 25th highest in the world in 2011 Population is approximately 127 million people, which is the 10th largest population in the world. One of the world’s highest life expectancy at 81.25 years of age. Ageing population with people 23% of the population are over 60 years old fertility rate below replacement level at 1.39 children per woman while the uk’s fertility rate is 1.9
Occurred at 2:46pm Tokyo time on the 11th of March 2011. It was a Magnitude 9 earthquake its amplitude was 100x that of Haiti’s 7.0 Lasted for 3-6 minuets but there were strong aftershocks. The epicentre was 24 km deep, was 72 KM off the coast of sendai. A 400 to 500 km long segment of the north american plate which was being subducted Japan lies at a major triple junction of three major plates which interact in a complex and unpredictable way. The leading edge of the Pacific plate subducts beneath the westward moving Eurasian plate creating the worlds deepest known trench i.e. Marianas trench. In this same area the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the Philippine plate. Factors that contributed to the vunerability: Off Sendai there is a very old oceanic crust which is cooler and denser, it was assumed that the crust would easily slide into the mantle so only small earthquakes are predicted. Warping of the pacific plate means that it gets stuck rather than sliding smoothly into the mantle causing pressure build up. Rugged Ria coastline, many inlets caused tsunami waves to be concentrated, causing waves to encroach further.
Japan is an island nation located in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia. Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, together comprising about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan is a major economic power and has the 3rd largest nominal GDP Its GDP per capita is $34,739 or the 25th highest in the world in 2011 Population is approximately 127 million people, which is the 10th largest population in the world. One of the world’s highest life expectancy at 81.25 years of age. Ageing population with people 23% of the population are over 60 years old fertility rate below replacement level at 1.39 children per woman while the uk’s fertility rate is 1.9
Occurred at 2:46pm Tokyo time on the 11th of March 2011. It was a Magnitude 9 earthquake its amplitude was 100x that of Haiti’s 7.0 Lasted for 3-6 minuets but there were strong aftershocks. The epicentre was 24 km deep, was 72 KM off the coast of sendai. A 400 to 500 km long segment of the north american plate which was being subducted Japan lies at a major triple junction of three major plates which interact in a complex and unpredictable way. The leading edge of the Pacific plate subducts beneath the westward moving Eurasian plate creating the worlds deepest known trench i.e. Marianas trench. In this same area the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the Philippine plate. Factors that contributed to the vunerability: Off Sendai there is a very old oceanic crust which is cooler and denser, it was assumed that the crust would easily slide into the mantle so only small earthquakes are predicted. Warping of the pacific plate means that it gets stuck rather than sliding smoothly into the mantle causing pressure build up. Rugged Ria coastline, many inlets caused tsunami waves to be concentrated, causing waves to encroach further.