BY Darin Rosellini Winter Quarter 2017 2011 TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE BY Darin Rosellini Winter Quarter 2017

March 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm – 9.1 magnitude earthquake Japan’s Islands 231 miles north of Tokyo at a depth of 15.3 miles.

Statistics: 22,000 deaths Material damage – 25 trillion yen ($300 billion) Shaking lasted for about 6 minutes Over 5,000 aftershocks A clay layer in the subduction zone is what allowed the plates to move over 164 feet Tokyo Electric Power – Nuclear Fukushima Daiichi Plant – Radiation exposure concerns Nuclear power plants walls collapsed.

Continued Statistics 30 foot tsunami Approximately 18 millions tons of debris swept into ocean from tsunami – 200,000 building were swept into the sea In Antarctica, the seismic waves from the earthquake sped up the Whillans Ice Stream, jolting it by 1.5 feet and broke off icebergs US Geological Survey says the quake moved Honshu, Japan’s main island, by 8 feet and shifted the earth on its axis Buildings destroyed by the tsunami released thousands of tons of ozone-destroying chemicals and greenhouse gases into the air

The Cause: 2011 Tohoku earthquake struck offshore of Japan, along the subduction zone where two tectonic plates collided. East of Japan, the Pacific plate dives beneath the overriding Eurasian plate. The temblor (earthquake) completely released what is suggested to be centuries of built up stress between the two plates.

Before and After

People watch the aftermath of tsunami waves, Kessennuma Port, Miyagi Prefecture

Tsunami waves hit the coast of Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture, photographed on March 11, 2011 by Sadatsugu Tomizawa and released via Jiji Press on March 21, 2011.

Five years later, on February 25, 2016, TEPCO employees work at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The decontamination and decommissioning process at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s embattled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant continues in Okuma, Japan. Quake and tsunami damage to the nuclear reactors in 2011 caused a nuclear disaster which still forces 99,750 people to live as evacuees, housed away from contaminated areas

With in 22 hours, the tsunami hit the continent of Antarctica.

` References http://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html   http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/17/world/asia/japan-earthquake---tsunami-fast-facts/ http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/03/5-years-since-the-2011-great-east-japan-earthquake/473211/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami#/media/File:Map_of_Sendai_Earthquake_2011.jpg https://youtu.be/lm3UaOPccto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFIWqj4LWWY