2011 Japan Earthquake - Tsunami Fast Facts
March 11, 2011 - At 2:46 p.m., a 9.0 magnitude earthquake takes place 231 miles
northeast of Tokyo at a depth of 15.2 miles.
The earthquake causes a tsunami with 30-foot waves that damage several nuclear
reactors in the area.
It is the fourth-largest earthquake on record (since 1900) and the largest to hit
Japan.
Number of people killed and missing:
(Source: Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency)
The total of confirmed deaths and missing is nearly 22,000, which includes nearly
20,000 deaths from the initial earthquake and tsunami and about 2,000 from postdisaster health conditions. (as of February 2016)
Other Facts:
Japan had 54 nuclear reactors, with two under construction, and 17 power plants,
that produced about 30% of Japan's electricity at the time of the earthquake.
(IAEA 2011)
Material damage from the earthquake and tsunami is estimated at about 25 trillion
yen ($300 billion).
There are six reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi
plant, located about 65 km (40 miles) south of Sendai.
A microsievert is an internationally recognized unit measuring radiation dosage.
People are typically exposed to a total of about 1,000 microsieverts in one year.
The Japanese government estimated that the tsunami swept about five million tons
of debris offshore, but that 70 percent sank, leaving 1.5 million tons floating in the
Pacific Ocean. The debris was not considered to be radioactive.
NOAA Modeling Effort of the Debris
Timeline:
All times and dates are local Japanese time.
March 11, 2011 - At 2:46 p.m., an 8.9 magnitude earthquake takes place 231 miles
northeast of Tokyo. (8.9 = original recorded magnitude; later upgraded to 9.0)
(0:46 ET/5:46 GMT)
- The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issues a tsunami warning for the Pacific
Ocean from Japan to the U.S. About an hour after the quake, waves up to 30 feet
high hit the Japanese coast, sweeping away vehicles, causing buildings to collapse,
and severing roads and highways.
- The Japanese government declares a state of emergency for the nuclear power
plant near Sendai, 180 miles from Tokyo. Sixty to seventy thousand people living
nearby are ordered to evacuate to shelters.
March 12, 2011 - Overnight, a 6.2 magnitude aftershock hits the Nagano and
Niigata prefecture (USGS).
- At 5:00 a.m., a nuclear emergency is declared at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
power plant. Officials report the earthquake and tsunami have cut off the plant's
electrical power, and that backup generators have been disabled by the tsunami.
- Another aftershock hits the west coast of Honshu - 6.3 magnitude. (5:56am)
- The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announces that radiation near
the plant's main gate is more than eight times the normal level.
- Cooling systems at three of the four units at the Fukushima Daini plant fail
prompting state of emergency declarations there.
- At least six million homes - 10 percent of Japan's households - are without
electricity, and a million are without water.
- The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake appears to have moved Honshu,
Japan's main island, by 8 feet and has shifted the earth on its axis.
- About 9,500 people - half the town's population - are reported to be unaccounted
for in Minamisanriku on Japan's Pacific coast.
March 13, 2011 - People living within 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the Fukushima
Daini and 20 kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi power plants begin a
government-ordered evacuation. The total evacuated so far is about 185,000.
- 50,000 Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel, 190 aircraft and 25 ships are
deployed to help with rescue efforts.
- A government official says a partial meltdown may be occurring at the damaged
Fukushima Daiichi plant, sparking fears of a widespread release of radioactive
material. So far, three units there have experienced major problems in cooling
radioactive material.
March 14, 2011 - The U.S. Geological Survey upgrades its measure of the
earthquake to magnitude 9.0 from 8.9. The new reading means the quake is the
fourth-strongest earthquake since 1900.
- An explosion at the Daiichi plant No. 3 reactor causes a building's wall to
collapse, injuring six. The 600 residents remaining within 30 kilometers of the
plant, despite an earlier evacuation order, have been ordered to stay indoors.
- The No. 2 reactor at the Daiichi plant loses its cooling capabilities. Officials
quickly work to pump seawater into the reactor, as they have been doing with two
other reactors at the same plant, and the situation is resolved. Workers scramble to
cool down fuel rods at two other reactors at the plant - No. 1 and No. 3.
- Rolling blackouts begin in parts of Tokyo and eight prefectures. Downtown
Tokyo is not included. Up to 45 million people will be affected in the rolling
outages, which are scheduled to last until April.
March 15, 2011 - The third explosion at the Daiichi plant in four days damages
the suppression pool of reactor No. 2, similar to an explosion occurring at No. 1
over the weekend. Water continues to be injected into "pressure vessels" in order to
cool down radioactive material.
March 16, 2011 - The nuclear safety agency investigates the cause of a white
cloud of smoke rising above the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Plans are canceled to
use helicopters to pour water onto fuel rods that may have burned after a fire there,
causing a spike in radiation levels. The plume is later found to have been vapor
from a spent-fuel storage pool.
- In a rare address, Emperor Akihito tells the nation to not give up hope, that "we
need to understand and help each other." A televised address by a sitting emperor
is an extraordinarily rare event in Japan, usually reserved for times of extreme
crisis or war.
- After hydrogen explosions occur in three of the plant's reactors (1,2, and 3), Chief
Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says radiation levels "do not pose a direct threat to
the human body" between 12 to 18 miles (20 to 30 kilometers) from the plant.
March 17, 2011 - Gregory Jaczko, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
tells U.S. Congress spent fuel rods in the No. 4 reactor have been exposed because
there "is no water in the spent fuel pool," resulting in the emission of "extremely
high" levels of radiation.
- Helicopters operated by Japan's Self-Defense Forces begin dumping tons of
seawater from the Pacific Ocean on to the No.3 reactor to reduce overheating.
- Radiation levels hit 20 millisieverts per hour at an annex building where workers
have been trying to re-establish electrical power, "the highest registered (at that
building) so far." (Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
March 18, 2011 - Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency raises the threat
level from four to five, putting it on a par with the 1979 Three Mile Island accident
in Pennsylvania. The International Nuclear Events Scale says a Level Five incident
means there is a likelihood of a release of radioactive material, several deaths from
radiation and severe damage to the reactor core.
April 12, 2011 - Japan's nuclear agency raises the Fukushima Daiichi crisis from
Level 5 to a Level 7 event, the highest level, signifying a "major accident." It is
now on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union, which
amounts to a "major release of radioactive material with widespread health and
environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended
countermeasures."
June 6, 2011 - Japan's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters reports that
reactors 1, 2 and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant experienced a full
meltdown.
June 30, 2011 - The Japanese government recommends more evacuations of
households 50 to 60 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
The government said higher radiation is monitored sporadically in this area.
July 16, 2011 - Kansai Electric announces that a reactor at the Ohi nuclear plant
will be shut down due to problems with an emergency cooling system. This leaves
only 18 of Japan's 54 nuclear plants producing electricity.
October 31, 2011 - In response to questions about the safety of decontaminated
water, Japanese government official Yasuhiro Sonoda drinks a glass of
decontaminated water taken from a puddle at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
November 2, 2011 - Kyushu Electric Power Co. announces that it restarted No. 4
reactor, the first to come back online since the March 11 disaster, at the Genkai
nuclear power plant in western Japan.
November 17, 2011 - Japanese authorities announce that they have halted the
shipment of rice from some farms northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
power plant after finding higher-than-allowed levels of radioactive cesium.
December 5, 2011 - Tokyo Electric Power Company announces that at least 45
metric tons of radioactive water have leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
facility, and may have reached the Pacific Ocean.
December 16, 2011 - Japan's Prime Minister says that a "cold shutdown" has been
achieved at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a symbolic milestone that
means the plant's crippled reactors have stayed at temperatures below the boiling
point for some time.
December 26, 2011 - Investigators report that poorly trained operators at the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant misread a key backup system and waited
too long to start pumping water into the units, according to an interim report from
the government committee probing the nuclear accident.
February 27, 2012 - Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, an independent factfinding committee, releases a report claiming that the Japanese government feared
the nuclear disaster could lead to an evacuation of Tokyo while at the same time
hiding its most alarming assessments of the nuclear disaster from the public as well
as the United States.
May 24, 2012 - TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co.) estimates about 900,000
terabecquerels of radioactive materials were released between March 12 and March
31 in 2011, more radiation than previously estimated.
June 11, 2012 - 1,324 Fukushima residents lodge a criminal complaint with the
Fukushima prosecutor's office, naming Tsunehisa Katsumata, the chairman of
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and 32 others responsible for causing the
nuclear disaster that followed the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and exposing
the people of Fukushima to radiation.
June 16, 2012 - Despite public objections, the Japanese government approves
restarting two nuclear reactors at the Kansai Electric Power Company in Ohi in
Fukui prefecture, the first reactors scheduled to resume since all nuclear reactors
were shut down in May 2012.
July 1, 2012 - Kansai Electric Power Co. Ltd. (KEPCO) restarts the Ohi nuclear
plant's No. 3 reactor, resuming nuclear power production in Japan for the first time
in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown following the tsunami.
July 5, 2012 - The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation
Commission's reportfinds that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis was a "man-
made disaster" that unfolded as a result of collusion between the facility's operator,
regulators and the government. The report also attributes the failings at the plant
before and after March 11 specifically to Japanese culture.
July 23, 2012 - A Japanese government report is released criticizing TEPCO. The
report says that the measures taken by TEPCO to prepare for disasters were
"insufficient," and the response to the crisis "inadequate."
October 12, 2012 - TEPCO acknowledges in a report that it played down safety
risks at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant out of fear that additional measures
would lead to a plant shutdown and further fuel public anxiety and anti-nuclear
movements.
July 2013 - TEPCO admits that radioactive groundwater is leaking into the Pacific
Ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi site, bypassing an underground barrier built to
seal in the water.
August 28, 2013 - Japan's nuclear watchdog Nuclear Regulation Authority
(NRA) says a toxic water leak at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi power
plant has been classified as a level 3 "serious incident" on an eight-point
International Nuclear Event Scale (lINES) scale.
September 15, 2013 - Japan's only operating nuclear reactor is shut down for
maintenance.All 50 of the country's reactors are now offline. The government
hasn't said when or if any of them will come back on.
November 18, 2013 - Tokyo Electric Power Co. says that operators of the
Fukushima nuclear plant have started removing 1,500 fuel rods from damaged
reactor No. 4. It is considered a milestone in the estimated $50 billion cleanup
operation.
February 20, 2014 - TEPCO says an estimated 100 metric tons of radioactive
water has leaked from a holding tank at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Plant.
October 19, 2015 - Japan's health ministry says that a Fukushima worker has been
diagnosed with leukemia. It is the first cancer diagnosis linked to the cleanup.
February 29, 2016 - Three former TEPCO executives are indicted on charges of
professional negligence related to the disaster at the Fukushiima Daiichi plant.
Crisis Management of Tohoku; Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, 11 March 2011
M Zaré1,* and S Ghaychi Afrouz2
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Abstract
The huge earthquake in 11 March 2012 which followed by a destructive tsunami in
Japan was largest recorded earthquake in the history. Japan is pioneer in disaster
management, especially earthquakes. How this developed country faced this
disaster, which had significant worldwide effects? The humanitarian behavior of
the Japanese people amazingly wondered the word’s media, meanwhile the
management of government and authorities showed some deficiencies. The impact
of the disaster is followed up after the event and the different impacts are tried to
be analyzed in different sectors. The situation one year after Japan 2011 earthquake
and Tsunami is overviewed. The reason of Japanese plans failure was the scale of
tsunami, having higher waves than what was assumed, especially in the design of
the Nuclear Power Plant. Japanese authorities considered economic benefits more
than safety and moral factors exacerbate the situation. Major lessons to be learnt
are 1) the effectiveness of disaster management should be restudied in all
hazardous countries; 2) the importance of the high-Tech early-warning systems in
reducing risk; 3) Reconsidering of extreme values expected/possible hazard and
risk levels is necessary; 4) Morality and might be taken as an important factor in
disaster management; 5) Sustainable development should be taken as the basis for
reconstruction after disaster.
Keywords: Japan, Earthquake, Tsunami, Disaster, Crisis Management, Fukushima
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Introduction
The magnitude 9.0 Japan’s Tohoku Earthquake occurred at 14:46 local time on
Friday, 11 March 2011, 125 km east coast of Honshu and 380 km far from Tokyo
and rattled the large parts of Japan and some part of east China and Russia with 30
km depth of the hypocenter (1). This earthquake that lasted approximately 3
minutes (170 seconds) caused a 130 km long by 159 km wide rupture zone on the
pacific plate subduction zone and followed by a huge tsunami with more than 40
meter waves. The destructive aftermaths of this incident made an irreparable
disaster not only for the Japan, but also for the whole world because except for the
enormous death toll and debris, the damages of nuclear power plants were a
hazardous unexpected tragedy.
Casualties and damages
According to the report of the Japanese National Police Agency, 15854 dead, 3167
missing and 26992 injured across twenty prefectures are the result of this
devastating earthquake and tsunami which ruined more than 125000 buildings.
Moreover, it caused long blackouts for more than 4.4 million buildings and left 1.5
million buildings out of water for days (2), also large fires were triggered one after
another even for weeks after the main quake. Explosion and demolition of the
Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (Fukushima Daiichi), which generated
radioactive contamination near the plant’s area with irreversible damages to the
environment, was one the most significant issues of this catastrophe and ranked 7
(the most sever level for nuclear power plant) based on the International Nuclear
Event Scale, similar to the Chernobyl disaster on 26 April 1986 (3). Therefore, it is
not strange to consider to this earthquake as the most important destructive seismic
event of the beginning of the twenty first century in the advanced industrial world.
Losses intensified by hit of the tsunami as the statistics shows it was more fatal
(Fig. 1) and also more buildings destroyed by its strike; However, the quake was
the main cause of the partial damage of buildings (4). Figure 2 manifests the
building losses distribution through affected areas and Fig. 3 reveals the relative
impact of the earthquake vs. tsunami in each prefecture of Japan (4).
Fig. 1:
Fig. 1:
Division of total 19100 death and missed people by the reason as of 10th March
2012 (CATDAT)
Fig. 2:
Fig. 2:
Building damage distribution (CATDAT)
Fig. 3:
Fig. 3:
The relative impact of the earthquake vs. the tsunami in each location
Seismology and Seismic History
This mega thrust earthquake is categorized as a great earthquake with the
magnitude more than 8 in scientific seismological classification (5). Over 1000
aftershocks, some of which were larger than the recent catastrophic earthquakes in
Iran such as Bam, Iran 2003, hit the area since the main shock. Regardless of the
consequent tsunami, the Tohoku Sendai Earthquake (2011) is the largest recorded
earthquake in the history of Japan in terms of magnitude while the territory of
Japan is known by numerous and critical earthquakes. There are two momentous
calamitous earthquakes in history of Japan: The great Kanto earthquake with
magnitude of 7.9 on 1 September 1923 which destroyed Tokyo and Yokohama
rigorously by the severe quake and subsequent fires and caused more than 143000
deaths (6, 7); and the Kobe earthquake (also known as Hanshin- Awaji earthquake)
with magnitude of 6.9 on 17 January 1995 that left more than 6400 demises (6, 8).
The Kanto incident is still the deadliest earthquake in Japanese history and the
Kobe earthquake was the most costly natural disaster of the world since Tohoku
Earthquake 2011 (9).
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Methodology
Japan crisis management system
Japan has an overall population of 127 million and is one of the most densely
populated countries in the world (340 persons per Km), where the population
highly concentrated around Tokyo (6). This earthquake-prone country as a pioneer
in crisis management has a comprehensive plan for preparing against disasters,
consists of the Central Council for Accident Prevention, chaired by Prime Minister,
set of cohesive rules for immediate response to all of the unexpected incidents, the
advanced research system and the extensive public education about disasters. As
the result of this plan, in the case of an accident, people, government officials and
rescue departments know exactly what to do while the alarm is sounded, without
chaos.
It was after the disastrous Kobe earthquake of 17 January 1995 (M6.9) that crisis
management of Japan greatly promoted since the government set up a GIS system
and a general computer network. This system contains different subsystems to
operate all disaster related functions from prevention before the disaster to damage
evaluation after it (10). Additionally, the most advanced earthquake and tsunami
early warning system of the whole world is installed in Japan during 2003 to 2007,
which is one of the main parts of this crisis management system. This warning
system had a considerable role in Tohoku 2011 earthquake to reduce losses and
save lives. Several Japanese media such NHK channel and also mobile phone
networks have the most responsibility of broadcasting the news of early warning
system.
In management of the 11 March 2011 crisis, one of the most facilitative factors for
emergency managers was proper behavior of people who follow the commands
cautiously. In other words, the “social capital” in this country had a significant role
in recovery after the incident as people’s high respect to roles and moral values and
their solidarity prevent them from influx for aid and looting and motivate them to
consider the public benefits instead of self-interests.
Response to the disaster
Immediately after the event, The Government of Japan (GOJ) held National
Committee for Emergency Management, headed by Prime Minister. The
government declared an emergency in effected area and dispatched the Japan Self
Defense Forces for rescue operations (11). All ministries and departments such as
Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Health were involved in
this response, also local offices of disaster response in all prefectures begins their
operations as their duty was already clear. The Ministry of Health was in charge of
preparing suitable vehicles for supplying water and assigning hospitals for remedy
of casualties and people who have been exposed to radiation. Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries with Ministry of Finance were responsible for
providing food, portable toilet, blanket, radio, gasoil, torch, dry ice and other
essential things. By the command of the government, all of the main highways in
north of the country were completely occupied for emergency response activities.
Besides, the transport systems includes subway, shipping and the Shinkansen
bullet train ceased their activity in Sendai and Tokyo instantly after the quake.
Moreover, at the day of event the Government of Japan declared “the state of
nuclear emergency” due to the threat posed by reactors in two Fukushima nuclear
power plants (I and II) and 140,000 residents within 20 km of the plant evacuated.
At 15:36 JST (Japan Standard Time) on 12 March, there was an explosion in the
reactor building at Unit 1 in Fukushima Daiichi (I) power plant. At 11:15 JST on
14 March, the explosion of the building surrounding Reactor 3 occurred. An
explosion at 06:14 JST on 15 March in Unit 2, damaged the pressure-suppression
system. When the disaster began on 11 March 2011, reactor unit 4 was shut down
for periodic inspection and all fuel rods had been transferred to the spent fuel pool
on an upper floor of the reactor building. On 15 March, an explosion damaged the
fourth floor rooftop area of the unit 4 reactor.
Japanese Red Crescent Society (JRC), which had a substantial role in initial relief
operations and temporary housing, deployed its teams promptly. JRC performed
properly for accommodation of refugees and evacuees in schools, public buildings,
and shelters. This society adapted its operations to all other rescue organizations
and NGOs, which deployed to the area later.
Construction of temporary housing in quakestricken prefectures was begun 8 days
after the event and the first set of buildings was expected to be ready within a
month (12). In addition to medical aids, therapists and social workers were
dispatched to the affected zone by Health ministry and then in coming days the
concentration of treatments was shifting to psychotherapy from physical
sicknesses. In addition, this Ministry performed required actions in order to control
and inhibit infectious diseases and encouraged people to use masks (2).
Fire was reported in eight prefectures after the quake. Fire suppression of gas
pipeline took a few days and fires in Cosmo Oil Installations and some other
refineries lasted 3 days. Generally, the number of fires increased from 44 to 325 in
a week, but its growth rate declined. All the fires, which were triggered after the
earthquake, were under control of Japanese Police and it can be said that they
could prosperously cease and extinguish them (13). On the other hand, these fires
and breakdown of six out of nine oil factories faced the affected areas with fuel
shortage. The gas pipeline repairing operation had a slow progress, too. Therefore,
about one million liter gasoline per day had been carried to the damaged areas by
tankers and then by cargo train in order to compensate lack of fuel. Low
displacement capacity of oil and coal shipments caused delays in delivering fuel
loads, which were importing from countries such as South Korea and Russia, to
consumers (13).
Due to the shutting down of the power plants which were cracked by the quake and
tsunami, authorities begun imposing sporadic power cuts nationwide to make up
for production losses. Correspondingly, large factories like Toyota and Sony halted
their production activities and many citizens in Kanto reduced their power
consumption in order to abridge the time of blackouts (14).
Nuclear crisis
There are 54 reactors in Japan, but since the tsunami on March 2011 that destroyed
Fukushima plant (Fig. 4) and triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years,
the government did not allow to restart any reactor that have undergone
maintenance due to public safety (15). The first nuclear power plant of Japan was
initiated with collaboration of English corporations in 1973, but these kinds of
power plants then developed by American technology. All the 11 reactors in
Fukushima 1, Fukushima 2, Onagawa and Tokai nuclear power plants
automatically safe shut down after the quake; however, arrival of tsunami debris
with high waves damaged reactor’s cooling systems and eventually, resulted
hazardous explosions. This could have been prevented if the designers had
estimated the probable maximum altitude of the tides more prudently. The
explosion occurred in 4 of the 6 reactors of Fukushima 1 power plant one after
another, while the unit 3 reactor was more damaged and more intensively
contaminated the surrounding area. A few hours before each of these explosions,
authorities warned about the cooling system breakdown, ordered to evacuate
neighboring people and tried to drop the pressure of vapors, but in all of them the
hydrogen explosion finally happened.
Fig. 4:
Fig. 4:
Fukushima 1 NPP explosion, 14 March 2011 (DigitalGlobe)
The owner of the Fukushima Plant, The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO),
is accused of mismanagement and hiding the truth about the real damage caused by
the disaster at the expense of saving the company (16). Moreover, according to
reports, it was expected that TEPCO safely shutdown reactors of Fukushima 1
nuclear power plant approximately a month before the 11 March earthquake, but
apparently the company avoided this action because of economic issues.
Over 140 thousand residents were evacuated from 20 Km around the Fukushima
plant. Radiation penetrated in foods and drinking water in 30 kilometer far from
the evacuated area, and authorities inhibited distribution of these polluted
foodstuffs (13). U.S. Department of Energy announced a wide area beyond 80kilometer radius around the Fukushima plant is affected by radiation (17).
The explosion of Fukushima power plant and its aftermaths aroused public
concerns about nuclear energy in Japan and other earthquake prone countries.
Consequently, other power plants, which were not resistant to the probable future
quakes with magnitude more than 8, ceased they activity gradually sequentially by
the command of The Prime Minister. TEPCO shut its last operating nuclear reactor
in 26 March 2012 for regular maintenance, leaving just one running reactor
supplying Japan’s creaking power sector (15). Then again, on 10 April 2012 (less
than a month later), as the summer arrives, while Japan is going to struggle with
electricity shortage, the government planned to restart one of the atomic plants in
Kansai after approval its safety (18) and faced with people’s disagreement.
Furthermore, the nuclear crisis has led to growing opposition against atomic power
plants in other countries, particularly in Germany, where thousands of citizens
participated in an anti-nuclear demonstration. This disapproval also affected the
regional election results unbelievably. In the state of Baden-Wurttemburg, which
traditionally had gone with Christian Democratic Union party for 58 years, most of
people voted for the Green Party who was against with 17 nuclear reactors in this
country (19).
Results: Crisis consequences
The 11 March 2011 earthquake had many deleterious environmental impacts that
take a long time to recover. Apart from radioactive materials dispersed due to
nuclear plant explosions and discharging polluted radioactive water of cooling
systems to the sea, the subsequent tsunami induced huge amount of debris contains
building materials, broken boats, cars, trees and etc. that cause environmental
harmful issues.
Radioactive pollutions and radiations as the most harmful repercussions of the
earthquake induced fear and concern among resident. Most evacuees did not return
to their home even after the safety of the regions was assured. However, the
government tried hard to convince people to return to their homes by checking and
promulgation the radiation doses constantly, but just the population of old people
gradually increased. Therefore, satisfying young people to come back will be a
demanding challenge for the government.
A year after the event, anecdotal evidence suggests that fear of radiation, rather
than contamination itself, is triggering stress-related problems among nuclear
evacuees (20), despite the experts emphasized that the doses are too low to develop
cancer. Even in more distant areas, where completely secure, parents do not allow
their children to play outside. Although there have been no recorded deaths from
radiation in Fukushima, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper,
psychological trauma associated with evacuation, pneumonia and heart disease
were much more fatal based on statistics. Therefore, in months after the event,
Japanese Red Cross concentrated on mental health issues.
Also, the tsunami had adverse effects on agriculture and requires long-term
reconstruction at least for 2 or 3 years. In addition, the fishing industry faced to
critical continuing problems. Most reports acknowledged that Japan’s food exports
could be limited by Japan’s current Production and supply shortages, along with
boosting food safety concerns and possible long-term radiation threats to its food
production, in contrast possibly its need for food imports will increase in future
(21).
Moreover, since Japan is a country covered by jungles, wooden houses are very
prevalent in this country and despite the dropping rate of wood imports in recent
decade, due to boom reduction of this kind of homes; the Tohoku earthquake
caused a 70% rise in wood import rate by enhancement of the wood demand. This
made a competition for wood exporters from different countries such as Australia,
America, and China.
One of the important impacts of the Fukushima power plant explosion is its
psychological consequences. Regardless of common diseases such as infectious
ones that break out after earthquakes, the radioactive contamination permeated to
the residential areas where people was living, working and planting brought a ten
times fatal disease, which is hopelessness and untruthfulness. People know they
should leave anything they had include home and agriculture plant and this lead
them to an ambiguous future which is unstable and they should build everything
from beginning. The increase in number of suicides in power plant’s surrounding
areas even far from them and farmers concern about safety of their productions and
land even 100 kilometers far from the affected zone prove the strength and
influence of this issues.
Japan should also challenge with the problem of enhancing of unemployment.
Large number of refugee and evacuees left their home and moved to other cities.
Also, workers of car and electronic factories are now jobless by factory closure so
they are forced to immigrate (22). Japanese government created around 20
thousands of jobs in the emergency measures to combat the effects of the disaster
in a month, but the number of the unemployed ones was much more than created
jobs (23). Additionally, women especially in rural areas, who used to were
involved in tough works such as agriculture and fishing, after the disaster have to
work in other posts and try different occupations in order to help to family
economic. Many of these women take apart in protests against Fukushima power
plant issues in Tokyo in October and November 2011. It seems that this earthquake
has modified the women life style in affected prefectures as now they have more
important roles in family issues and it is big change in an almost traditional maledominated Japan.
Following the shutting, the Fukushima power plant, on February 2012, the House
Foreign Relations Committee off Japan approved to export its nuclear equipment
to Vietnam and Jordan. Also Japanese companies signed agreements with India,
Bangladesh, and Turkey about construction, operation, and management of nuclear
power plants in these countries, despite environment activist’s oppositions in
recent months against these transactions and their high costs and permanent
detriments for humans and earth. Actually, the nuclear power in spite its
approximate low costs, have many hazardous disadvantages that the Japan 2011
accident and the Chernobyl 1986 are good samples for this fact. Unfortunately,
developing countries do not consider these consequences and endanger the
environment and people’s lives while Japanese authorities are just accenting their
own country’s benefits.
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Conclusion
In Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011 despite the unprecedented
scale of the quake itself, infrastructures and buildings mostly remained standing
and proved the resilience of Japan is planning laws especially in constructions and
earthquake technology. Hence, if the earthquake had been the sole problem, then
Japan could have claimed for itself a momentous prosperous in planning for the
impact of a major earthquake. The reason of Japanese plans failure was the largescale tsunami, which had higher waves than what was assumed in designing. In
addition, the fact that Japanese authorities considered economic benefits more than
safety and moral factors exacerbate the situation. Even after the disaster, this
country just cared about economic benefits and sought to export its technology to
other countries.
However, this disaster was a motivation for people and governments worldwide to
replace clean energy with the hazardous one and it was a reminder to
decommissioning the old and unsafe operating power plants. Thus, the Metsamor
nuclear power plant in Armenia, Iran’s neighboring country, is a critical threat in
the region with high seismic risk. Governments had to plan long-term and costly
solutions to replace the nuclear energy with clean and renewable forms of it with
respect to criteria and moral values, not only the benefits.
Although energy issues and management of power plant’s crisis was a blind spot in
Tohoku disaster management, Japanese social ethics and their manner in dealing
with the problem were the most advantageous points. Discipline, maintaining calm,
public confidence in managers and scientific management based on the plans
helped to improve the situation more quickly (Figure-5). Long queues of Japanese
People for food and facilities instead of chaos, which we mainly consider in
developing countries, could be a good proof for other countries that enterprising on
educating people about how to act in crisis is very operative and effective in
enhancement of disaster management.
Fig. 5:
Fig. 5:
These two photos taken over a six-month period showing aftermath of the March
11, 2011, tsunami and its cleanup progress in Wakabayashi-ward in Sendai,
Miyagi Prefecture, in northeastern Japan. (pacificcitizen.org)
The 11 march 2011 earthquake was an alarm for seismologist all over the world,
particularly in Tehran as a capital city, to revise their methods and evaluation of
estimating the plausible time and magnitude of earthquake. It could be an alarm for
us to be more meticulous and cautious about the earthquake hazard as prepared and
industrialized Japan with the most modernized technology confronted many
extensive troubles, which were out of their predictions. Now we should ask this
question “how much we are prepared in an earthquake prone country with a capital
located exactly on active faults?”
Go to:
Ethical considerations
Ethical issues (Including plagiarism, Informed Consent, misconduct, data
fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, redundancy,
etc) have been completely observed by the authors.
Go to:
Acknowledgments
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests. The authors appreciate the
assistance of IIEES and Tehran university colleagues for finalizing this study,
specially H.R. Jalilian, M.H Pishahang and Z. Hejazi.
Go to:
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Tohoku
Tōhoku,
Miyagi: Matsushima Bay [Credit: Shiro Shirahata/Bon]chihō (region), constituting
the northern portion of Honshu, Japan. It is bordered to the west by the Sea of
Japan (East Sea) and to the east by the Pacific Ocean and includes the ken
(prefectures) of Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Yamagata, Miyagi, and Fukushima. Its
name is derived from the Japanese terms tō (“east”) and hoku (“north”). The region
is also known as Ōu, in reference to its main mountain range. Tohoku occupies
nearly one-fifth of Japan’s total area but contains less than one-tenth of the
country’s total population.
Kokobun Temple [Credit: Photos Pack-EB Inc.]Three mountain ranges run
roughly parallel across Tohoku from north to south, separated by rows of lowlands.
The ranges and lowlands are, from east to west, the Kitakami Mountains and
Abukuma Mountains, the Kitakami River and Abukuma River lowlands, the Ōu
Mountains, a row of basins constituting the Median Groove, and the Dewa
Mountains and the mountains associated with Mounts Asahi and Iide. Maritime
lowlands occur along the coast of the Sea of Japan.
The backbone range of the Ōu Mountains forms the major climatic boundary of the
region. It separates the western area of warmer summers and snowy winters from
the eastern area of cooler summers and drier winters. The northeastern coastal belt
is frequented by sea fog and cool easterly winds during the growing season. The
highly indented coast of the Kitakami Range is subject to destructive tsunamis
(ocean waves caused by earthquakes), including the devastating series of
earthquake-generated tsunamis in March 2011 that laid waste to much of the
region’s eastern coastline.
Fukushima prefecture: paddy fields [Credit: Brian Adler]Tōhoku depends chiefly
on agriculture and is often referred to as the rice granary of Japan. Fruit is also
grown, and cattle are raised. During the 1950s dams were constructed in the
mountains of Tōhoku to form a hydropower-generation area. Primary industries
include forestry, mining, and fishing. The region is known for such traditional
manufactures as lacquerware, iron and copper utensils, toys, and textiles. During
the late 1970s industrial agglomerations began forming in cities such as
Hachinohe, Akita, Sendai, and Kōriyama. Communications were improved by the
Seikan Tunnel—a submarine tunnel between Aomori and Hokkaido completed in
1988—and the northward extension of the Shinkansen (bullet train), which began
service to Aomori city in 2010. Tourism has grown rapidly, based on several
national parks and other scenic areas and numerous hot springs. Urban growth has
been comparatively slow, however. Area 25,825 square miles (66,886 square km).
Pop. (2010) 9,335,636.
Why is there no looting in Japan after the earthquake?
18 March 2011
From the section Magazine
People queuing outside a shop in Japan
In today's Magazine
The children uprooted to live the 1970s Good Life
Can you tell if you've got too much money?
Has Germany lost its Wanderlust?
Sicily arms search reveals ancient relics
During a state of emergency it is not unusual to hear about looting, so why have
there been very few reports of this in Japan? Commentators from across the media
have their say.
It's not possible to list them all but reports of looting during disasters are
commonplace, like current reports from GNN Liberia on Liberian mercenaries
being accused of looting in Ivory Coast.
In the UK there have also been incidents, like Exeter's Express and Echo's report of
people scavenging motorbikes on the Devon coast back in 2007, when the contents
of a container ship were washed ashore. In the same year, police investigated
reports of looting at flood-hit properties in West Yorkshire.
The absence of stories of this kind has been noted by writers around the world.
Slate's Christopher Beam says there's more to the lack of looting than honesty. He
says that Japanese people are more honest than most, but adds the Japanese legal
structure rewards honesty more than most.
His other theories why there isn't any looting in Japan include the police presence
and organised crime. "Police aren't the only ones on patrol since the earthquake
hit," he says. "Members of Yakuza, Japan's organised crime syndicate, have been
enforcing order."
It sounds grotesque to say we should see reasons for hope as we watch in real time
while the earth is shaken six inches on its axis
Johann Hari, Independent columnist
The Voice Of America's Steve Herman has been in Japan. He describes the country
as "slowly grinding to a halt", which he puts down to traditional Japanese stoicism.
"There's a touch of bitterness in a few voices and some subtle signs of frustration
but no show of open anger," he says.
The nearest Mr Herman gets to suggesting anyone taking advantage of the disaster
is when he speculates that a black economy in rationed goods may rise up. To back
up his prediction, Mr Herman cites the time this happened in the days after Japan's
defeat in World War II.
The idea that the Japanese are acting in some way against the grain in an
emergency situation is challenged by columnist Johann Hari in the UK's
Independent. He says the panicking disaster victim is a myth. He argues that in
reality the vast majority of people behave in the aftermath as altruists, saving their
fellow human beings and sharing what they have. He goes on to say the same
predictions are made about every disaster.
People taking a motorbike off the beach
Image caption
Opportunists made the most of motorbikes washed up on the Devon coast
"Once the lid of a tightly policed civilization is knocked off for a second, humans
will become beasts. But the opposite is the case. It sounds grotesque to say we
should see reasons for hope as we watch in real time while the earth is shaken six
inches on its axis, tsunamis roar, and nuclear power stations teeter on meltdown.
But it is true."
This, for Mr Hari, is proof enough to "kill off right-wing ideologies based on the
belief that humans are inherently selfish".
But US blogger Andrew Sullivan's readers have been disputing the story there is
not looting in Japan. They've been sending in examples.
According to a commenter on Mr Sullivan's blog the Daily Dish, who has been
reading Japanese reports, they don't seem to be translated into English or reported
on English language news sites.
But, the commenter translates an article in Japan's 47 News citing 40 known cases
of looting in Miyagi.