M8.9 EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMI IMPACTS JAPAN WITH THE TSUNAMI WAVES REACHING PACIFIC RIM COUNTRIES 5TH LARGEST QUAKE EVER 7 – 10 M TSUNAMI WAVES 2:46 pm MARCH 11,
Download ReportTranscript M8.9 EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMI IMPACTS JAPAN WITH THE TSUNAMI WAVES REACHING PACIFIC RIM COUNTRIES 5TH LARGEST QUAKE EVER 7 – 10 M TSUNAMI WAVES 2:46 pm MARCH 11,
M8.9 EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMI IMPACTS JAPAN WITH THE TSUNAMI WAVES REACHING PACIFIC RIM COUNTRIES 5TH LARGEST QUAKE EVER 7 – 10 M TSUNAMI WAVES 2:46 pm MARCH 11, 2011 Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA Natural Phenomena that Cause disasters Planet Earth’s Convergent Plate Motion Causes: Earthquakes (e.g., M8.9 Quake in Japan) Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters Planet Earth’s Convergent Plate Motion Causes: Tsunamis (e.g., 3-4 m waves in Japan) LOCATION: 133 KM (80 MI) OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU OFFSHORE EPICENTER • It only took seconds for the Pand S-waves and minutes for the tsunami waves to reach Sendai.. PRELIMINARY SOCIETAL IMPACTS • Ground shaking lasted 300 seconds (compared with about 10 - 20 seconds for the 1994 Northridge, CA or the 1995 Kobe, Japan quakes). • Hundreds of aftershocks, many in the M6+ range and comparable in size with the damaging 1971 San Fernando CA quake, followed the main shock. PRELIMINARY SOCIETAL IMPACTS • The tsunami following within about 10 minutes, changing coast lines and inundating land that will never be used again. • The earthquake ground shaking and the tsunami wave run up together caused major damage in northern Japan. • Simultaneously, wide spread fires burning out of control seared the land. PRELIMINARY SOCIETAL IMPACTS • Some of the nuclear power plants in the region shut down automatically, leading to an evacuation of several thousand. • Radiation levels 1,000 times normal levels at some locations. • Four million left without electricity. • Metro and trains shut down. PASSENGERS STRANDED: SENDAI STATION PRELIMINARY SOCIETAL IMPACTS • Vertical evacuation to escape the tsunami wave run up was a priority. • Search and rescue: an urgent need over a wide geographucal area. • Mass care and health care needs escalated. • With so many people missing, deaths are expected to reach in the thousands. SEARCH AND RESCUE FIRE: NEAR SENDAI AIRPORT THE TSUNAMIGENIC SOURCE: 130 KM (80 MI) OFFSHORE • The tsunami slammed the eastern coast of Japan, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people, then raced across the Pacific at 800 mph before hitting Hawaii and the West Coast of the USA.. TSUNAMI TRAVEL PATH TSUNAMI WAVES:NATON MYIAGI PREFECTURE TSUNAMI WAVES REACH COAST OF NORTHERN JAPAN SENDAI, JAPAN AIRPORT OARAI INUNDATED BY TSUNAMI HAWAII • The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported that water rushed ashore in Honolulu, swamping the beach in Waikiki and surging over the break wall in the world-famous resort, BUT stopping short of the area's high-rise hotels. CRESCENT CITY, CA SAN FRANCISCO, CA Lecture prepared, uploaded and distributed by Supercourse Disaster Team Ron LaPorte Eugene Shubnikov Faina Linkov Meredith Hennon Francois Sauer Nicolas Padilla Eric Marler Niel Wald Borys Ledoshchuk Rashid Chottani Jesse Huang Ali Ardalan Eric Noji Hiroya Goto Walter Hays William Reinckens April Eshelman