The Tohoku Earthquake In Japan

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TOHOKU, Japan, Friday, Mar. 11 -Yesterday, a 9.0 magnitude Earthquake struck the east of Tohoku, Japan. The epicentre of the earthquake was located approximately 72 km east of Tohoku (38.3 degrees North latitude and 142.4 degrees East longitude), or 130 km east of Sendai as shown by the X in figure 3 below. The focus of the earthquake was 24.4 km under the epicentre. The earthquake therefore caused a tsunami due to the displacing of water above the Pacific Plate. The earthquake and tsunami together have caused approximately 20,000 deaths, 6152 injuries and 2500 people missing. Approximately 90% of these deaths were by drowning. Approximately 140,000 people have been displaced and over 500,000 buildings and structures have been destroyed or damaged. The early warning system of Japan stopped many bullet trains, and many residents received texted warnings of the earthquake and tsunami on their mobile phones giving them time to evacuate. Figures 1 and 2 show exactly how destructive the tsunami caused by the Tohoku Earthquake was. The earthquake negatively affected Japan …show more content…

Floods and washing away of homes was caused by the rupture of the Fujinuma irrigation dam in Sukagawa. The flooding of the dam caused the drowning of many people and was a factor in the 90% deaths by drowning. Soil liquefaction is caused by applied strength from an earthquake and is where soil behaves as if it is liquid, and at a water purification centre in Tohoku, the soil sank 1 metre. Many coastal towns and cities were destroyed as a result of the tsunami that followed the initial ground shaking. The tsunami even spread to locations across the world such as Hawaii, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Antarctica, California, Oregon and the Galapagos Islands. However, there were no deaths due to these

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