japan tohoku earthquake

TABLE OF CONTENT

No. Content Page

1. 1.0 Introduction 2

2. 2.0 Literature Review 3

3. 3.0 Case Study

3.1 Background

3.2 Causes

3.3 Effects

3.3 Responses

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4. 4.0 Summary 31

5. 5.0 References 32

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Earthquake is trembling or shaking movement of the earth's

surface. Most earthquakes are minor tremors. Larger earthquakes

usually begin with slight tremors but rapidly take the form of one or

more violent shocks, and end in vibrations of gradually diminishing

force called aftershocks. The subterranean point of origin of an

earthquake is called its focus; the point on the surface directly

above the focus is the epicenter. The magnitude and intensity of an

earthquake is determined by the use of scales.

The topic for us is study case of earthquake. We focused on

Tohoku, Japan 2011 earthquake. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes

in history. We focused on the earthquake effects, how does it

happened, the responses and others. We also compare between two cases

in terms of the effect and causes between the two earthquake reports.

We also study on how does it happened and the differences between

land earthquakes point and ocean earthquake point.

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2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

We are comparing Tohoku, Japan earthquake with Loma Prieta earthquake.

Loma Prieta Earthquake (1989)

The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and

the World Series Earthquake was a major earthquake that struck the San

Francisco Bay Area of California on Tuesday, 17th October 1989, at

5:04 pm local time. Caused by a slip along the San Andreas Fault, the

quake lasted 10–15 seconds and measured 6.9 on both the moment

magnitude scale and on the Richter magnitude scale. The quake killed 63

people throughout Northern California, injured 3757 and left some

3,000 to 12,000 people homeless. The earthquake occurred during the

warm-up practice for the third game of the 1989 World Series,

featuring both of the Bay Area's Major League Baseball teams,

the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. Because of game-

related sports coverage, this was the first major earthquake in the

United States to have its initial jolt broadcast live on television.

57 of the deaths were directly caused by the earthquake while

six further fatalities were ruled to have been caused indirectly. In

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addition, there were 3757 injuries as a result of the earthquake, 400

of which were serious. The highest number of fatalities, 42 occurred

in Oakland because of the Cypress Street Viaduct collapse on

the Nimitz Freeway, where the upper level of a double-deck portion of

the freeway collapsed, crushing the cars on the lower deck. One 15 m

section of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge also collapsed,

leading to a single fatality which is a 23-year-old woman named

Anamafi Moala. Three people were killed in the collapse of the Pacific

Garden Mall in Santa Cruz, and five people were killed in the collapse

of a brick wall on Bluxome Street in San Francisco.

When the earthquake hit, the third game of the 1989 World

Series baseball championship was just beginning. Because of the

unusual circumstance that both of the World Series teams; the San

Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics were based in the affected

area, many people had left work early or were staying late to

participate in after work group viewings and parties. As a consequence

the normally crowded freeways contained unusually light traffic. If

traffic had been normal for a Tuesday rush hour, injuries and deaths

would certainly have been higher. The initial media reports failed to

take into account the game's effect on traffic and initially estimated

the death toll at 300, a number that was corrected to 63 in the days

after the earthquake.

The earthquake caused severe damage in some very specific

locations in the San Francisco Bay Area, most notably on unstable soil

in San Francisco and Oakland. Oakland City Hall was evacuated after

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the earthquake until US$80M seismic retrofit and hazard abatement work

was completed in 1995. Many other communities sustained severe damage

throughout the region located in Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, San

Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. Major property damage in San

Francisco's Marina District about 97 km from the epicentre resulted

from liquefaction of soil used to create waterfront land. Other

effects included sand volcanoes, landslides and ground ruptures. Some

12,000 homes and 2,600 businesses were damaged.

The quake caused an estimated $6 billion in property damage,

becoming one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history

at the time. It was the largest earthquake to occur on the San Andreas

Fault since the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Private donations

poured into aid relief efforts and on 26th October, President George H.

W. Bush signed a $1.1 billion earthquake relief package for

California.

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3.0 CASE STUDY

3.1 Background of Tohoku, Japan’s Earthquake

Japan is situated in the collision zone of at least four

lithospheric plates; the Eurasian/Chinese Plate, the North American

Plate, the Philippine Plate and the Pacific Plate. The continuous

movements of these plates generate a lot of energy released from time

to time in earthquakes and tsunamis of varying magnitude and effect.

The collision is part of the ‘Ring of Fire’ of earthquake and volcanic

activity around the Pacific Ocean.

Chikyu, a deep-sea drilling vessel operated by the Japan Agency

for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, is in the midst of a many-

years study drilling into the seafloor off Japan’s coast to study the

genesis of big quakes there. The deadliest quake in Japan’s history

came in 1923, when more than 140 000 people perished in the magnitude

7.9 Great Kanto Earthquake. That tremor was centred southwest of Tokyo

Bay. The March 11 quake struck more to the north, offshore from the

city of Sendai.

Tsunami warnings spread across the Pacific in the hours after

the earthquake. Earthquakes generate tsunamis when the ground rupture

displaces massive amounts of water. The size of the Japanese quake,

plus its relatively shallow depth of 24km, meant that it was primed to

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trigger tsunamis. Honshu’s east coast had essentially no time to

prepare for the waves, but the other locations around the Pacific set

into gear preparation and evacuation plans polished after the 2004

Indian Ocean tsunami. Hawaii was reporting waves at 1 meter or less.

3.2 Causes of Japan Earthquake

Volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain building are major

characteristics of the Japanese Islands in an active continental

margin, which are closely related to plate subduction.

Convergent boundaries

The boundaries of plates covering the surface of the Earth are

classified into three types: convergent, divergent, and transform

types. Convergent boundaries occur where one plate subducts underneath

another plate with density lower than the subducting plate or collides

with another plate in the case that both plates are composed of

continental material. Continental plates cannot dive into the mantle

because their densities are lower than that of the mantle. Divergent

boundaries occur where new lithosphere (plate) is produced and plates

move away from each other at spreading ridges. Transform boundaries

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occur where one plate laterally slides past another, displacing

spreading ridge.

As an oceanic plate subducts underneath another plate at a

convergent boundary, such area is called a subduction zone. The

Japanese Islands are situated in a subduction zone in the northwestern

margin of the Pacific Ocean where the Pacific Plate and Philippine Sea

Plate are subducting. Convergent boundaries are characterized by

volcanism, earthquakes, and mountain building attributed to active

crustal movement.

The active crustal movement zone surrounding the Pacific Ocean is

called the circum-Pacific orogenic belt, and also known as the Ring of

Fire.

In and around Japan

In Japan, thousands of islands are arranged in several arc-shaped

chains (island arcs). The Japanese Islands are emerged parts of

volcanic island arcs, extending to about 3000 km. The four main

islands and island chains are as follows: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku,

Kyushu, the Kuril Islands connecting with the Hokkaido island, the

Izu-Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands aligning southward from central Honshu, 8

and the Nansei Islands extending southward from the south of Kyushu.

On the Pacific Ocean side, trenches run parallel to these islands: in

the order from the north, the Kuril Trench, the Japan Trench, the Izu-

Bonin Trench, the Nankai Trough, and the Ryukyu Trench. Short troughs,

the Suruga Trough and the Sagami Trough, are situated on the west and

east sides of the Izu Peninsula in central Honshu, respectively. The

Suruga Trough connects with the Nankai Trough. Trenches and troughs

are long, narrow submarine depressions. They are classified by depth;

narrow depressions 6000 meters or more deep are trenches and those

less than 6000 meters deep are troughs. (However, in this site,

“trench” is mainly used as the term meaning a depression where a plate

subducts in general descriptions about subduction zones and so on.)

A marginal sea is defined as a portion of ocean incompletely bordered

by islands or peninsulas situated in the margin of continent. In

island arc areas, marginal seas expand on basins on the back arc side

(back arc basin), generally situated between island arcs and the

continent (see "Arc-trench system"). The Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of

Japan, and the East China Sea are marginal seas. The Philippine Sea is

surrounded by the Philippine Islands, Taiwan, the Nansei Islands,

southwest Japan, the Izu-Bonin Islands, and the Mariana Islands. This

sea consists of the Shikoku Basin and the Philippine Basin,

geomorphologically divided from the northwestern Pacific Basin.

Although the Philippine Sea corresponds to the ocean side (forearc

side) of the Southwest Japan Arc and the Ryukyu Arc, it is also a

marginal sea (backarc side) of the Izu-Bonin Arc and the Mariana Arc

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Plate subduction and earthquakes

The Japanese Islands are in marginal areas of the Pacific Plate, the

Philippine Sea Plate, the North American Plate, and the Eurasian Plate

(Figure 3). A triple junction at which the Pacific, the Philippine

Sea, and the North American Plates meet one another is situated off

the Boso Peninsula in central Honshu (Kanto). Oceanic plates, the

Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate, subduct at trenches or

troughs. The Pacific Plate descends underneath the North American

Plate at the Kuril Trench and the Japan Trench and underneath the

Philippine Sea Plate at the Izu-Bonin Trench. The Philippine Sea Plate

descends beneath the Eurasian Plate at the Suruga and Nankai Troughs

and the Ryukyu Trench. The leading edge of the Pacific Plate reaches

under the Eurasian Plate.

Figure 3

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Earthquakes very often occur in borders between plates. In Japan, over

1300 felt earthquakes were observed in 2010, but more than 2000

earthquakes were felt in some years. The frequency of M ≥5 aftershock

of M 9 earthquake in eastern Japan in 2011 is over 400 two weeks after

the main shock (M: magnitude).

In plate margins, the crust is stressed by plate movement. The

rocks are broken and energy is released when the stress exceeds their

strength. The rupture generally occurs along faults, which are

considered seismic sources. Therefore, the rapid slip of rocks along a

fault results in an earthquake. Volcanic activity also causes

earthquakes. There are principally three types of fault motion: normal

dip-slip, reverse dip-slip, and strike-slip (left or right). Fault

movements may include a component of strike-slip and dip-slip (see

also "Neodani fault").

As for the M 9.0 eastern Japan earthquake in 2011, Japan

Meteorological Agency reported that the type of earthquake source

fault was the reverse fault, the size of fault was about 450 km long

and 200 km wide, the fault slippage was 20 to 30 meters (maximum), and

the duration of main failure was about three minutes (The 2011 off the

Pacific Coast Tohoku Earthquake [28th report]).

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Fig. 4 Types of fault motion

Figures 5.1 to 5.4 are a 3-D distribution map of hypocenters. Shallow-

focus earthquakes occur mainly on the landward side of trenches (near

the boundaries of continental plates) and around active volcanoes and

faults. Also, shallow-focus earthquakes and relatively deep-focus

earthquakes often happen off the western coast of northeastern Honshu

and southwestern coast of Hokkaido. This earthquake zone is along the

boundary between the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

Hypocenters of earthquakes occurring at depths greater than 60 km are

found in a zone tilted landward, which are characteristic of

subduction zones (Figures5.2, 5.3, and 5.4). The zone is called a deep

seismic zone or the Wadachi-Benioff zone and is situated in a slab (a

sinking part of oceanic plate in the mantle). Therefore, the

distribution of hypocenters provides information on subducting plates.

Fig. 5 3-D distribution maps of hypocenters

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Figure 5.1- Hypocenter distribution

Arrows show the location of trench or trough (see Figure 3).

K: Kuril Trench, J: Japan Trench, I: Izu-Bonin Trench, N: Nankai

Trough, R: Ryukyu Trench

Figure 5.2-Viewed from the south

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Figure 5.3-Viewed from the northwest

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Figure 5.4-Viewed from the north



In the maps, the largest slope is the slab of the Pacific Plate. The

deepest hypocenters are found at depths about 600 km, showing the slab

is diving extremely deep into the mantle. Seismic tomography indicates

that the slab reaches 1200 m deep under the ground in a region from

the southern Kamchatka to the northern Kuril Islands and the Mariana

region. The angle of the deep seismic zone differs among island arcs

(Figure 5-3). The deep seismic zone under the Northeast Japan Arc is

the gentlest (about 30 degrees) and that under the Izu-Bonin Arc is

the steepest (45 degrees or more). The subduction rate of the Pacific

Plate is about 10 cm/year.

On the other hand, the leading edge of the Philippine Sea Plate

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is at much shallower depths than that of the Pacific Plate (Figures 5-

3 and 5-4). The depths of deepest hypocenters in the Philippine Sea

Plate subducting at the Nankai Trough are 60 km under Chubu, 70 km

under Kinki and 40 km under Shikoku, and the angle of the deep seismic

zone is 20 to 30 degrees. Data of hypocenters suggest the flexure of

the slab from Chubu through Shikoku. The Philippine Sea Plate

subducted at the Sagami Trough is in contact with the slab of the

Pacific Plate. The plate is subducting from the Nankai Trough at about

3.2 cm/year. As for the Philippine Sea Plate subducting at the Ryukyu

Trench, the deep seismic zone reaches to a depth of 160 km to 200 km,

and the angle is about 70 degrees in an area to the north of Tokara

Straight (around lat. 29 N) and 40 to 50 degrees in an area to the

south of Tokara Straight. The subduction rate is about 4.6 cm/year.

Plate subduction is a phenomenon that lithosphere with density

increased by cooling sinks into the upper mantle with a high

temperature and relatively low density. Generally, the older a plate

is, the colder and denser it is. It is known that a subduction rate

correlates with an age of plate. In fact, this relationship is true

around Japan (Table 1). As mentioned above, the approximate subduction

rate is 10 cm/year for the Pacific Plate, 4.6 cm/year for the

Philippine Sea Plate subducting at the Ryukyu Trench, and 3.2 cm/year

for the Philippine Sea Plate subducting at the Nankai Trough. The age

of the seafloor in the northwest Pacific Basin is 100 million years or

older. The seafloor of the Philippine Sea near Japan is divided into

the Philippine Basin and the Shikoku Basin (see Submarine topography).

The Philippine Basin was formed in the Paleogene (49 million to 40

million years ago) and the Shikoku Basin was formed in the Late

Paleogene to Middle Miocene (30 million to 15 million years ago).

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However, an angle of deep seismic zone does not correlate with an age

of plate.

Table 1 Subduction rate and age of seafloor

Arc-trench system

In a subduction zone, plate subduction forms a trench and uplift area

parallel to the trench and causes igneous activity and earthquakes.

Such uplift area is called a volcanic island arc or island arc because

it is an arc-shaped chain of islands and volcanoes. Volcanic arcs

formed on the edge of continent without marginal seas are continental

margin arcs.

The arrangement of major landforms, distribution of volcanoes, and

geotectonic subdivisions of southwest Japan are parallel to trenches

off the Japanese Islands. Plate subduction at trenches is responsible

for these features, and island arcs and trenches, therefore, can be

regarded as an arc-trench system. It is mainly characterized by the

following: (1) major landform arrangement, ocean–trench–island arc–

marginal sea (backarc basin)–continent, (2) igneous activity, (3)

earthquakes occurring at depths of ≥70 km in addition to shallow-focus

earthquakes, and (4) accretionary prisms and metamorphic rocks

produced by plate subducting.

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The Japanese Islands consist of five island arcs: in the order

from the north, the Kuril, the Northeast Japan, the Izu-Bonin, the

Southwest Japan, and the Ryukyu Arcs (Figure 2). The Kuril Arc

collides with the Northeast Japan Arc in central Hokkaido. The

Northeast Japan Arc meets the Southwest Japan Arc in central Honshu,

and the Izu-Bonin Arc collides with these two arcs. The Southwest

Japan Arc meets the Ryukyu Arc in central Kyushu. In these areas

called the arc-arc collision zone, the directions of the island chains

change and geomorphological and geological structures are complicated.

Each island arc is accompanied with a trench in parallel: Kuril

Arc–Kuril Trench, Northeast Japan Arc–Japan Trench, Izu-Bonin Arc–Izu-

Bonin Trench, Southwest Japan Arc–Nankai Trough, and Ryukyu Arc–Ryukyu

Trench. These trenches are divided into two series. The first series

is the line of the Kuril, the Japan, and the Izu-Bonin Trenches, and

the second is the line of the Nankai Trough and the Ryukyu Trench. The

arc-trench system in Japan, therefore, is classified into two systems:

the eastern Japan arc system (the Kuril, the Northeast Japan, and the

Izu-Bonin Arcs) and the western Japan arc system (the Southwest Japan

and the Ryukyu Arcs). Tectonism and volcanism in the eastern Japan arc

system and in the western Japan arc system are mainly regulated by the

Pacific Plate movement and the Philippine Sea Plate movement,

respectively.

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3.3 Effect And Causes of Japan Earthquake 2011 ( Tohoku )

The effects of the great earthquake were felt around the world, from

Norway's fjords to Antarctica's ice sheet. Tsunami debris continues to

wash up on North American beaches two years later.

Deaths

More than 18,000 people were killed in the disaster. Most died by

drowning.

Less than an hour after the earthquake, the first of many tsunami

waves hit Japan's coastline. The tsunami waves reached run-up heights

(how far the wave surges inland above sea level) of up to 128 feet (39

meters) at Miyako city and travelled inland as far as 6 miles (10 km)

in Sendai. The tsunami flooded an estimated area of approximately 217

square miles (561 square kilometres) in Japan.

The waves overtopped and destroyed protective tsunami seawalls at

several locations. The massive surge destroyed three-story buildings

where people had gathered for safety. Near Oarai, the tsunami

generated a huge whirlpool offshore, captured on video.

Nuclear meltdown

The tsunami caused a cooling system failure at the Fukushima Daiichi

Nuclear Power Plant, which resulted in a level 7 nuclear meltdown and

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release of radioactive materials. About 300 tons of radioactive water

continues to leak from the plant every day into the Pacific Ocean,

affecting fish and other marine life.

Worldwide effects

The tsunami waves also travelled across the Pacific, reaching Alaska,

Hawaii and Chile. In Chile, some 11,000 miles (17,000 km) distant, the

tsunami was 6.6 feet (2 meters) high when they reached the shore. The

surge of water carried tons of debris out to sea as it receded.

Japanese docks and ships, and countless household items, have arrived

on U.S. and Canadian shores in the ensuing years. The U.S. Coast Guard

fired on and sank the derelict boat 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru in 2012 in

the Gulf of Alaska. The ship started its journey in Hokkaido.

Amazing facts

The earthquake shifted Earth on its axis of rotation by

redistributing mass, like putting a dent in a wobbling top. The

temblor also shortened the length of day by about a microsecond.

More than 1,000 aftershocks have hit Japan since the earthquake,

the largest a magnitude 7.9.About 250 miles (400 km) of Japan's

northern Honshu coastline dropped by 2 feet (0.6 meters).

The jolt moved Japan's main island of Honshu eastward by 8 feet

(2.4 meters).

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The Pacific Plate slid westward nears the epicentre by 79 feet

(24 m).

In Antarctica, the seismic waves from the earthquake sped up the

Whillans Ice Stream, jolting it by about 1.5 feet (0.5 meters).

The tsunami broke icebergs off the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in

Antarctica.

As the tsunami crossed the Pacific Ocean, a 5-foot high (1.5 m)

high wave killed more than 110,000 nesting seabirds at the Midway

Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

In Norway, water in some fjords pointing northeast toward Japan

(up and over the pole) sloshed back and forth as seismic waves

from the earthquake raced through.

The earthquake produced a low-frequency rumble called infrasound,

which travelled into space and was detected by the Goce

satellite.

Tsunami

An up thrust of 6 to 8 meters along a 180-km wide seabed at 60 km

offshore from the east coast of Tōhoku, resulted in a

major tsunami that brought destruction along the Pacific coastline of

Japan's northern islands. Thousands of lives were lost when entire

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towns were devastated. The tsunami propagated throughout the Pacific

Ocean region reaching the entire Pacific coast of North and South

America from Alaska to Chile. Warnings were issued and evacuations

carried out in many countries bordering the Pacific. However, while

the tsunami affected many of these places, the extent was minor.

Chile's Pacific coast, one of the furthest from Japan at about

17,000 km (11,000 mi) distant, was struck by waves 2 m (6.6 ft) high,

compared with an estimated wave height of 38.9 meters (128 ft) at Omoe

peninsula, Miyako city, Japan.

Ports

All of Japan's ports were briefly closed after the earthquake, though

the ones in Tokyo and southwards soon re-opened. Fifteen ports were

located in the disaster zone. The north-eastern ports of Hachinohe,

Sendai, Ishinomaki and Onahama were destroyed, while the Port of

Chiba (which serves the hydrocarbon industry) and Japan's ninth-

largest container port at Kashima were also affected, though less

severely. The ports at Hitachinaka, Hitachi, Soma, Shiogama,

Kesennuma, Ofunato, Kamashi and Miyako were also damaged and closed to

ships. All 15 ports reopened to limited ship traffic by 29 March

2011.A total of 319 fishing ports, about 10% of Japan's fishing ports,

were damaged in the disaster. Most were restored to operating

condition by 18 April 2012.

The Port of Tokyo suffered slight damage; the effects of the quake

included visible smoke rising from a building in the port with parts

of the port areas being flooded, including soil liquefaction in Tokyo

Disneyland's parking lot.

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Dams and water problems

The Fujinuma irrigation dam in Sukagawa ruptured, causing flooding and

washing away five homes. Eight people were missing and four bodies

were discovered by the morning. Reportedly, some locals had attempted

to repair leaks in the dam before it completely failed. On 12 March,

252 dams were inspected and it was discovered that six embankment

dams had shallow cracks on their crests. The reservoir at one

concrete gravity dam suffered a small non-serious slope failure. All

damaged dams are functioning with no problems. Four dams within the

quake area were unreachable. When the roads clear, experts will be

dispatched to conduct further investigations. In the immediate

aftermath of the calamity, at least 1.5 million households were

reported to have lost access to water supplies. By 21 March 2011, this

number fell to 1.04 million.

Electricity

According to the Japanese trade ministry, around 4.4 million

households served by Tōhoku Electric Power (TEP) in north-eastern

Japan were left without electricity. Several nuclear and

conventional power plants went offline after the earthquake,

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reducing TEPCO's total capacity by 21 GW. Rolling blackouts began

on 14 March due to power shortages caused by the earthquake.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which normally

provides approximately 40 GW of electricity, announced that it

could only provide about 30 GW. This was because 40% of the

electricity used in the greater Tokyo area was supplied by

reactors in the Niigata and Fukushima prefectures. The reactors

at the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Dai-ni plants were

automatically taken offline when the first earthquake occurred

and sustained major damage related to the earthquake and

subsequent tsunami. Rolling blackouts of approximately three

hours were experienced throughout April and May while TEPCO

scrambled to find a temporary power solution.

The blackouts affected Tokyo, Kanagawa, Eastern Shizuoka,

Yamanashi, Chiba, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tochigi,

and Gunma prefectures. Voluntary reduced electricity use by

consumers in the Kanto area helped reduce the predicted frequency

and duration of the blackouts. By 21 March 2011, the number of

households in the north without electricity fell to 242,927.

Tōhoku Electric Power was not able to provide the Kanto region

with additional power, because TEP's power plants were also

damaged in the earthquake. Kansai Electric Power Company (Kepco)

cannot share electricity, because its system operates at 60

hertz, whereas TEPCO and TEP operate their systems at 50 hertz;

this is due to early industrial and infrastructure development in

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the 1880s that left Japan without a unified national power grid.

Two substations, one in Shizuoka Prefecture and one in Nagano

Prefecture, were able to convert between frequencies and transfer

electricity from Kansai to Kanto and Tōhoku, but their capacity

to do so is limited to 1 GW.

With the damage to so many power plants, it may be years before

a long-term solution can be found. In effort to help alleviate

the shortage, three steel manufacturers in the Kanto region are

contributing electricity produced by their in-house conventional

power stations to TEPCO for distribution to the general

public. Sumitomo Metal Industries can produce up to 500 MW, JFE

Steel 400 MW, and Nippon Steel 500 MW of electric power. Auto and

auto parts makers in Kanto and Tohoku agreed in May 2011 to

operate their factories on Saturdays and Sundays and close on

Thursdays and Fridays to assist in alleviating the electricity

shortage during the summer of 2011.

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Oil, gas and coal

A 220,000-barrel (35,000 m3)-per-day oil refinery of Cosmo Oil

Company was set on fire by the quake at Ichihara, Chiba

Prefecture, to the east of Tokyo. It was extinguished after ten

days, injuring six people, and destroying storage tanks. Others

halted production due to safety checks and power loss.

In Sendai, a 145,000-barrel (23,100 m3)-per-day refinery owned by

the largest refiner in Japan, JX Nippon Oil & Energy, was also

set ablaze by the quake. Workers were evacuated, but tsunami

warnings hindered efforts to extinguish the fire until 14 March,

when officials planned to do so.

An analyst estimates that consumption of various types of oil

may increase by as much as 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) per day

(as well as LNG), as back-up power plants burning fossil

fuels try to compensate for the loss of 11 GW of Japan's nuclear

power capacity. The city-owned plant for importing liquefied

natural gas in Sendai was severely damaged, and supplies were

halted for at least a month. In addition to refining and storage,

several power plants were damaged. These include Sendai , New-

Sendai , Haranomachi, Hirono and Hitachinaka.

Nuclear power plants

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The Fukushima Daiichi, Fukushima Daini, Onagawa Nuclear Power

Plant and Tōkai nuclear power stations, consisting of a total

eleven reactors, were automatically shut down following the

earthquake. Higashidōri, also on the northeast coast, was already

shut down for a periodic inspection. Cooling is needed to

remove decay heat after a Generation II reactor has been shut

down, and to maintain spent fuel pools. The backup cooling

process is powered by emergency diesel generators at the plants

and at Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant.

At Fukushima Daiichi and Daini, tsunami waves overtopped seawalls

and destroyed diesel backup power systems, leading to severe

problems at Fukushima Daiichi, including three large explosions

and radioactive leakage.

Subsequent analysis found that many Japanese nuclear plants,

including Fukushima Daiichi, were not adequately protected

against tsunami.Over 200,000 people was evacuated.

The 7 April aftershock caused the loss of external power to

Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant

but backup generators were functional. Onagawa Nuclear Power

Plant lost 3 of 4 external power lines and temporarily lost

cooling function in its spent fuel pools for "20 to 80 minutes".

A spill of "up to 3.8 litres" of radioactive water also occurred

at Onagawa following the aftershock.

A report by the IAEA in 2012 found that the Onagawa Nuclear Power

Plant, the closest nuclear plant to the epicentre of the 2011

earthquake and tsunami, had remained largely undamaged. The

plant's 3 reactors automatically shut down without damage and all

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safety systems functioned as designed. The plant's 14 meter (46-

foot) high seawall successfully withstood the tsunami.

Europe's Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger addressed the

European Parliament on 15 March, explaining that the nuclear

disaster was an "apocalypse".

As the nuclear crisis entered a second month, experts recognized

that Fukushima Daiichi is not the worst nuclear accident ever,

but it is the most complicated. Nuclear experts stated that

Fukushima will go down in history as the second-worst nuclear

accident ever, while not as bad as Chernobyl disaster, worse

than Three Mile Island accident.

It could take months or years to learn how damaging the release

of dangerous isotopes has been to human health and food supplies,

and the surrounding country side. Later analysis indicated three

reactors at Fukushima I (Units 1, 2, and 3) had suffered

meltdowns and continued to leak coolant water, and by summer the

Vice-minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, the head of the

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and the head of the Agency

for Natural Resources and Energy, had lost their jobs.

Fukushima meltdown

Japan declared a state of emergency following the failure of the

cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant,

resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents.

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Officials from the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety

Agency reported that radiation levels inside the plant were up to

1,000 times normal levels, and that radiation levels outside the

plant were up to 8 times normal levels.

Later, a state of emergency was also declared at the Fukushima

Daini nuclear power plant about 11 km (7 mi) south. This brought

the total number of problematic reactors to six. It was reported

that radioactive iodine was detected in the tap water in

Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Niigata,

and radioactive caesium in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi

and Gunma. Radioactive caesium, iodine, and strontium were also

detected in the soil in some places in Fukushima. There may be a

need to replace the contaminated soil.

Many radioactive hotspots were found outside the evacuation

zone, including Tokyo .Food products were also found contaminated

by radioactive matter in several places in Japan.

On 5 April 2011, the government of the Ibaraki Prefecture banned

the fishing of sand lance after discovering that this species was

contaminated by radioactive caesium above legal limits. As late

as July 2013 slightly elevated levels of radioactivity were found

in beef on sale at Tokyo markets. No death or morbidity has so

far been reported as a result of the radioactive emissions.

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Transport

Japan's transport network suffered severe disruptions. Many

sections of Tōhoku Expressway serving northern Japan were

damaged.

The expressway did not reopen to general public use until 24

March 2011. All railway services were suspended in Tokyo, with an

estimated 20,000 people stranded at major stations across the

city.

In the hours after the earthquake, some train services were

resumed. Most Tokyo area train lines resumed full service by the

next day—12 March. Twenty thousand stranded visitors spent the

night of 11–12 March inside Tokyo Disneyland.

A tsunami wave flooded Sendai Airport at 15:55 JST, about 1 hour

after the initial quake, causing severe damage. Narita and Haneda

Airport both briefly suspended operations after the quake, but

suffered little damage and reopened within 24 hours. Eleven

airliners bound for Narita were diverted to nearby Yokota Air

Base.

Various train services around Japan were also cancelled, with JR

East suspending all services for the rest of the day. Four trains

on coastal lines were reported as being out of contact with

operators; one, a four-car train on the Senseki Line, was found

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to have derailed, and its occupants were rescued shortly after

8 am the next morning. Minami-Kesennuma Station on the Kesennuma

Line was obliterated save for its platform; 62 of 70 (31 of 35)

JR East train lines suffered damage to some degree in the worst-

hit areas, 23 stations on 7 lines were washed away, with damage

or loss of track in 680 locations and the 30-km radius around the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant unable to be assessed.

There were no derailments of Shinkansen bullet train services in

and out of Tokyo, but their services were also

suspended. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen resumed limited service late in

the day and was back to its normal schedule by the next day,

while the Jōetsu and Nagano Shinkansen resumed services late on

12 March.

Services on Yamagata Shinkansen resumed with limited numbers of

trains on 31 March. Derailments were minimized because of an

early warning system that detected the earthquake before it

struck. The system automatically stopped all high-speed trains,

which minimized the damage.

The Tōhoku Shinkansen line was worst hit, with JR East estimating

that 1,100 sections of the line, varying from collapsed station

roofs to bent power pylons, will need repairs.

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Services on the Tōhoku Shinkansen partially resumed only in

Kantō area on 15 March, with one round-trip service per hour

between Tokyo and Nasu-Shiobara, and Tōhoku area service

partially resumed on 22 March between Morioka and Shin-

Aomori. Services on Akita Shinkansen resumed with limited numbers

of trains on 18 March.

Service between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori was restored by May, but at

lower speeds due to ongoing restoration work; the pre-earthquake

timetable was not reinstated until late September.

The rolling blackouts brought on by the crises at the nuclear

power plants in Fukushima had a profound effect on the rail

networks around Tokyo starting on 14 March. Major railways began

running trains at 10–20 minute intervals, rather than the usual

3–5 minute intervals, operating some lines only at rush hour and

completely shutting down others; notably, the Tōkaidō Main

Line, Yokosuka Line, Sōbu Main Line and Chūō-Sōbu Line were all

stopped for the day. This led to near-paralysis within the

capital, with long lines at train stations and many people unable

to come to work or get home. Railway operators gradually

increased capacity over the next few days, until running at

approximately 80% capacity by 17 March and relieving the worst of

the passenger congestion.

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Telecommunication

Cellular and landline phone service suffered major disruptions in

the affected area. Immediately after the earthquake cellular

communication was jammed across much of Japan due to a surge of

network activity.

On the day of the quake, American broadcaster NPR was unable to

reach anyone in Sendai with working phone or Internet. Internet

services were largely unaffected in areas where basic

infrastructure remained, despite the earthquake having damaged

portions of several undersea cable systems landing in the

affected regions; these systems were able to reroute around

affected segments onto redundant links.

Within Japan, only a few websites were initially

unreachable. Several Wi-Fi hotspot providers reacted to the quake by

providing free access to their networks, and some American

telecommunications and VoIP companies such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-

Mobile and VoIP companies such as net TALK and Vonage have offered

free calls to (and in some cases, from) Japan for a limited time, as

did Germany's Deutsche Telekom.

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3.4 RESPONSES

Immediate Response

At 2:46pm (Japan time) on Friday March 11 an earthquake of 8.8 magnitudes hit the northeastern coast of Japan, followed by aftershocks and a series of tsunamis.

According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, this is the biggest earthquake since records began.

The Soka Gakkai immediately set up a main emergency communications center at the Headquarters in Shinanomachi, Tokyo, headed by Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada and General Director Masaaki Masaki, and local emergency centers in the affected prefectures.

These task forces are currently working to gather accurate informationon the situation and reaching out to communicate and encourage those affected.

SGI President Daisaku Ikeda expressed his profound condolences to all the victims and his serious concern for all affected, saying he is sending his heartfelt prayers for everyone's safety.

For now, Soka Gakkai has opened community centers in the regions concerned to provide accommodation and will exert its speedy and utmost effort to provide support for local relief activities.

Further response

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In response to the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunamis which devastated parts of northern Japan on March 11, the Soka Gakkai central emergency communications center at the Soka Gakkai Headquarters in Tokyo is coordinating closely with local emergency centers set up by Soka Gakkai in the prefectures concerned to gather information, contact those in affected areas and initiate relief efforts.

Soka Gakkai members continue to visit accessible areas to check on people's whereabouts and well-being, offering support and helping those in need of shelter find accommodation.

Soka Gakkai community centers throughout the affected region have beenopened to provide accommodation and food for the public, including seven in the worst-hit Miyagi prefecture where Sendai city is located.

The Soka Gakkai Tohoku Culture Center in Sendai is now the regional emergency coordination center for the organization's relief efforts. Around 600 people spent the night there on March 11 and from 6:30am onthe following morning; breakfast prepared by volunteers who worked through the night was served. Snacks and donuts were provided for children.

The center has a large parking lot that has been made available to local fire stations. Twenty fire trucks are now parked there and continue to engage in fighting the fires which are still breaking out.

The Soka Gakkai Headquarters, as well as Soka Gakkai members in Yamagata prefecture and the Shinetsu and Kansai areas, have sent trucks containing relief supplies such as water, blankets, food, stoveburners and portable toilets.

Humanitarian response to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami

Following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan received messages of condolence and offers of assistance from a range of international leaders. According to Japan's foreign ministry, 116

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countries and 28 international organizations had offered assistance toJapan. The magnitude of the earthquake was estimated at 9.0. This article is a list of charitable and humanitarian responses to the disaster from governments and non-governmental organizations. As of March 2012, donations to areas affected by the disaster totaled ¥520 billion and 930,000 people have assisted in disaster recovery efforts.

China, sent US$167,000 in aid along with a 15-member rescue teamwhich left Beijing on Sunday, 13 March 2011, with an additional pledge of RMB 30 million Chinese Yuan (US$4.57 million) of humanitarian supplies announced by China's Ministry of Commerce the following day. The Chinese government decided to donate 20,000 tons of fuel to consisting of 10,000 tons of gasoline and 10,000 tons of diesel. The Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark was standing by to assist whilst awaiting approval from Japan, but Japan declined the offer. The northeastern Chinese city of Changchun, a sister city of Sendai, sent 10 tones of drinking water to Japan. The provincial government of Jilin also said it will donate 100,000 U.S. dollars to the Miyagi prefecturegovernment while the municipal government of Changchun, capital of Jilin, pledged 500,000 Renminbi to the municipal government ofSendai. A super-sized 62-meter long mechanized water-pump arm wasdonated by China's Sany group, along with an accompanying team of5 engineers and consultants destined for the effort to quell the overheating and radiation problems of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant on 23 March 2011.

Australia prepared the frigate HMAS Sydney, and heavy landing ship HMAS Tobruk to carry helicopters, Australian Army engineers and medical teams to Japan if this is requested by the Japanese Government. Fire and Rescue NSW service sent a 76-member Urban Search and Rescue team, some of which had recently been rotated through the Christchurch recovery effort, and 20 tones of rescue equipment. This team was transported to Japan by a Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft,

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which subsequently remained in the country to contribute to the disaster relief effort. Two other RAAF C-17's were deployed to Japan to transport supplies and equipment, all three moving over one million pounds of cargo.

Philippines The Philippine government made ready to deploy a joint rescue mission composed of 41 members from three of its best search and rescue teams. It was to be complemented by a Philippine Air Force C-130 cargo plane and its crew. The Philippine Government also donated US$1 million to Japan. A 2-manteam has been sent in advance to assess the situation. Due to theoverwhelming response by the global community its search and rescue teams were not deployed. Instead it offered relief goods with the AFP's six-man advance team being in charge of distribution.

Russia State-controlled gas giant Gazprom provided additional liquefied natural gas supplies, the company divert two tankers of150,000 tons to the affected area. Russia's Emergencies Ministry official Irina Andrianova confirmed that Russia will send one Mi-26 helicopter along with a team of 50 Russian rescuers to search for survivors, and promised more aid. A team of Russian rescuers will join the search for survivors. According to Russia’s Emergencies Ministry spokesperson Irina Andrianova, "An Il-76 plane of the Russian Emergencies Ministry sent 50 rescuers, threerelief and rescue vehicles and the necessary equipment which later arrived and covered by RT news media. The Russian emergencyservices agency EMERCOM offered 40 people with three search and rescue dogs. Russia has sent to Japan liquidators of the Chernobyl disaster. The Russian relief group were among largest to r arrive in Japan to render aid and consists of 161 personal.

South Korea were among the first foreign emergency rescue team consisting of 5 rescuers and 2 rescue dogs who arrived in Japan

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on March 12, while another team of 102 rescuers arrived 2 days later. In total, private donations originating from Korea amounted to 2.97 billion Japanese Yen (37.1 million US dollars inMarch 2011), the 5th largest foreign donation following USA, Taiwan, Canada and Germany. In addition to human aid, Korea sent boric acid to weaken nuclear reactions and power sources forelectricity. Many provinces have offered aid as well. Gyeonggi-do offered US$1 million, and raised additional aid. The South Korean consulate staffs in Sendai were crucial in escorting a Croatian citizen, Vinko Hut Kono, safely to the Akita Airport.

However, some government organizations in South Korea halted their fund drives and instead donated the money to nationalist organizations for political reasons.

Malaysia sent a search and rescue team, with doctors and medical assistants.

4.0 SUMMARY

The magnitude 8.1 Tohoku earthquakes on March 11, 2011, which occurred

near the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan, resulted from thrust

faulting on or near the subduction zone plate boundary between the

Pacific and North America plates. At the latitude of this earthquake,

the Pacific plate moves approximately westwards with respect to the

North America plate at a rate of 83 mm/yr, and begins its westward

descent beneath Japan at the Japan Trench. Note that some authors

divide this region into several micro plates that together define the

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relative motions between the larger Pacific, North America and Eurasia

plates; these include the Okhotsk and Amur micro plates that are

respectively part of North America and Eurasia.

The location, depth, and focal mechanism of the March 11 earthquake

are consistent with the event having occurred on the subduction zone

plate boundary. Modeling of the rupture of this earthquake indicate

that the fault moved upwards of 30-40 m, and slipped over an area

approximately 300 km long (along-strike) by 150 km wide (in the down-

dip direction). The rupture zone is roughly centered on the earthquake

epicenter along-strike, while peak slips were up-dip of the

hypocenter, towards the Japan Trench axis. The March 11 earthquake was

preceded by a series of large foreshocks over the previous two days,

beginning on March 9th with a M 7.2 event approximately 40 km from the

epicenter of the March 11 earthquake, and continuing with another

three earthquakes greater than M 6 on the same day.

5.0 REFERENCES

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Book

Alan P. Trujillo & Harold V. Thurman, (2005). Essentials of Oceanography. Plate Tectonics and the Ocean Floor. Pearson Education, Inc

Web

“Japan in a Subduction Zone”. glgarcs.net. retrieved 2013 “Japan’s Earthquake: Response and Reconstruction”.

http://www.sgi.org/. retrieved 2011-2012 “Operation Pacific Assist". Global Operations. Australian Department

of Defence. Retrieved 17 March 20 "U.S. readies earthquake relief response". Reuters. 11 March 2011

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