Tohoku Japan Earthquake By: Millie, Casey, McKinzie, Abbey In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan.” -Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan

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Major Causes of Damage

In the end: Deaths: 15,878 Injured: 6,126 Homeless: at least 450,000 Missing: 2,713

Reverse faults are the primary cause of the largest tsunamis. Reverse faults are where two plates collide and one plate is lifted over the other plate. While these plates are generally in constant motion it is at the junction of their boundaries where the plates are locked together and the stress between them begins to build. generation.htm

As the two plates remain locked together stress continues to build at their intersection. As a result, the sea floor is pulled down (2) with a corresponding rise on the continental side of the fault. generation.htm

At some point, the stress between the two plates becomes too much and the earth between the two plates move releasing the pressure. This is felt as an earthquake. It is this sinking water, moving ahead of the bulge of lifted water, that is responsible for the often observed 'pulling away' of water from the normal shoreline as the tsunami approaches.

The tsunami radiate out from source of the earthquake. As the tsunami moves into more shallow water the speed of the tsunami diminishes and height of the waves grow

Japan is one of the most well-prepared countries in the world to deal with the threat of a tsunami. Warning systems are in place, and concrete sea walls wrap around much of the coastline.

-Japan was just not ready for an event of this size - They hadn't had something this large for over a 100 years - Seawalls were not high enough and gave false hope.

Improvement A major thing that Japan needed to improve was having their citizens more educated. People got their hopes up that the seawalls would protect them.

Nuclear Power Plant that was effected by the earthquake and tsunami The Plant has 6 boiling water reactors Fukushima Daiichi

Fukushima Daiichi Fukushima Daiichi Units 1, 2, and 3 were in operation at the time of the earthquake and were automatically shut down The tsunami waves hit and submerged and damaged the heat exchangers for dumping reactor waste heat and decay heat to the sea.

Fukushima Daiichi Fukushima Daiichi The three units lost the ability to maintain proper reactor cooling and water circulation functions As a result of no power there was no venting system and Units 1 and 3 had a hydrogen explosion where the hydrogen mixed with air and ignited.

Radioactive Contamination Iodine-131caesium-137 Evacuations were ordered for a 20 km radius

How could it have been prevented? TEPCO didn’t want to draw attention by adding preventative measures

Engineering techniques

The tuned mass dampener is an object (the gold ball) built into a building’s interior to absorb seismic shock.

Tuned Mass Damper

Springs-with-damper base isolator absorbs the seismic energy of the earthquake and reduce structural damage

Friction pendulum system is a design where energy is absorbed by the legs and dissipated through cylinders and sliders.

The E-Defense table is a shifting base intended to simulate an earthquake.

Japan skyscrapers swaying

Japan’s Economy Closed down or damaged ports and airport Disrupted Global Supply Chain Increase in food prices Suspended car production Employment rates Government debt increase Earthquake.htm earthquake-on-the-economy-my-first-thoughts.html

Global Economy Stocks in market declined Radiation impact Flow of goods are disrupted around the world Construction companies benefit Exposure to radiation he-impact-of-japans-earthquake-on-the- economy-my-first-thoughts.html

Overall There was a large impact on japans economy and a very little impact on the rest of the world.