Cause – displaced water Effects – similar to quakes Responses – warning system

Official death toll rises to 19,294 People queue at phone boxes (1 min max) as no mobile network 10m high tsunami waves hit coastline 452,000 made homeless Aid is promised from USA and UK Fukoshima power plant possible meltdown Iodine is found in milk and spinach Buildings begin to be demolished before rebuilding commences 3,450 people also missing Queues at petrol stations In Tokyo office workers ran into open park areas, away from buildings Temporary homes for possibly 100,000 children People urged to shut doors and close windows Survivors endure freezing temperatures Lack of water, electricity, fuel or food

Financial losses in Japan 2011 $72 billion as a result of the quake, up $25 billion from last year Biggest loss: Tokyo Electric Power Company lost $13 billion from efforts to stabilise the nuclear facility at Fukoshima East Japan railway lost $1.9 billion because of track damage Tohuku Electric Power lost $1.5 billion Other keywords: Fukoshima, densley populated, epicentre, slums, earthquake drills, prepared, earthquake proof buildings, education, levee for flood protection was 6m high – problem! Japan – fishing villages hit badly – underwater earthquake. Haiti – hit near capital city

A poor neighbourhood shows the damage after an earthquake measuring 7 plus on the Richter scale rocked Port au Prince Haiti just before 5 pm yesterday, January 12, 2010.

© REUTERS/Kena Betancur courtesy of alertnet.org

Haiti – disease problems After every major natural disaster, fears of further deaths through disease are immediate. Having no access to clean water coupled with unsanitary conditions – where human waste can mix with water people have no choice but to drink – creates a fearsome breeding ground for disease. While there is a vast array of possible health threats, top billing for potential outbreaks amongst those hit by a disaster is almost exclusively reserved for cholera. But just why is this disease so feared? A tiny bacteria, cholera causes extreme diarrhoea and vomiting. Initial symptoms are stomach pains, quickly evolving into diarrhoea that becomes rapidly worse, eventually producing what is colloquially known as ‘rice water’ – pale, watery faeces which literary pours out of the body. Patients can lose up to 10 litres of fluid in a single day and, untreated, the dehydration brought on by cholera can kill within 24 hours. Passed on through dirty water, when bacteria from the faeces of a sufferer finds its way into drinking water, or through food, if people don’t thoroughly wash their hands after going to the toilet, the potential for the disease to breakout and claim lives in the wake of a disaster is huge.

Japan earthquake and tsunami 2011