Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011
Id: Jitveer Atwal Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011
After doing research on significant events that occurred in the past 12 months within the Pacific Rim, the topic I finally decided to do my research report on was the recent earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s many cities. I chose this topic because I was really interested about learning more about the issue and how significant it actually was. My purpose in writing this research essay is simply to explore and explain in detail where and why these natural disasters occurred, the background history of the issue, and how Japan has been affected environmentally, socially, and economically by these events. In addition, I will also look into initiatives the government is taking and is planning to take in order to recover from this phenomenon.
On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by massive 8.9 earthquake at about 05:46:23 UTC. Many cities, including the capital Tokyo, were devastated by the earthquake. The quake was a result of the pacific plate subducting underneath the Japan plate. It had occurred about eighty miles east of the city of Sendai near the northeast coast of Honshu and about 15.2 miles deep which caused the seafloor to uplift and shift vertically (Parry). This in turn triggered the destructive tsunami. In the image (Fig. 1) below, you can see the height of the tsunami at different locations ("IBN live"). The massive waves of the tsunami measured as high as 10 meters and affected mostly the north eastern coastal regions of Japan, such as Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima.
The earthquake was the world’s fifth largest earthquake since 1900 and Japan’s most powerful earthquake ever recorded. The amount of devastation this disaster caused cannot be underestimated as
After doing research on significant events that occurred in the past 12 months within the Pacific Rim, the topic I finally decided to do my research report on was the recent earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s many cities. I chose this topic because I was really interested about learning more about the issue and how significant it actually was. My purpose in writing this research essay is simply to explore and explain in detail where and why these natural disasters occurred, the background history of the issue, and how Japan has been affected environmentally, socially, and economically by these events. In addition, I will also look into initiatives the government is taking and is planning to take in order to recover from this phenomenon.
On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by massive 8.9 earthquake at about 05:46:23 UTC. Many cities, including the capital Tokyo, were devastated by the earthquake. The quake was a result of the pacific plate subducting underneath the Japan plate. It had occurred about eighty miles east of the city of Sendai near the northeast coast of Honshu and about 15.2 miles deep which caused the seafloor to uplift and shift vertically (Parry). This in turn triggered the destructive tsunami. In the image (Fig. 1) below, you can see the height of the tsunami at different locations ("IBN live"). The massive waves of the tsunami measured as high as 10 meters and affected mostly the north eastern coastal regions of Japan, such as Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima.
The earthquake was the world’s fifth largest earthquake since 1900 and Japan’s most powerful earthquake ever recorded. The amount of devastation this disaster caused cannot be underestimated as