Earthquakes

A Force Of Nature
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Introduction
Natural Disasters are powerful forces of nature able to devastate entire cities, with Earthquakes

being one of the worst ones, able to cause other disasters such as volcanic eruptions and

tsunamis. In this report I will be talking about a specific Earthquake, the Japanese Earthquake

that was able to change the amount of time in a day, and details such as when and where it

happened, a brief explanation on what Earthquakes are (in general) along with the causes of

this Earthquake, the effects of this Earthquake such as amount of lives taken, and what we can

do in the future to minimize casualties.

The When and the Where

The time the Earthquake occured on was the Friday of March 11,2011 more specifically 2:46

P.M. The Earthquake was centralized 231 miles northeast of Tokyo at a depth of 15.2 miles. But

the foreshocks and aftershocks had different areas where they were centralized, and occured at

various different times.

The Causes

Earthquakes can be caused by two Primary sources Tectonic Plate activity on/near plate

margins and faults or Volcanic Eruptions. The Japanese Earthquake of 2011 was caused by the

first source, to be more specific it was caused by the sudden movement of the Pacific Tectonic

Plate under the North American Tectonic Plate on a fault line causing relatively harmless

tension caused by subduction to violently escape.

The Effects

The Japanese Earthquake was a very powerful Earthquake that measured a magnitude of 9.1 on

the Richter Scale making it one of the strongest Earthquakes in history. The casualties were

estimated to measure around 20,000, and there were a reported 2,500 people missing. The

property damage was estimated to be worth around ¥25,000,000,000,000 or $309,000,000,000.

That is not to mention the many NUCLEAR REACTORS that were completely destroyed or

badly damaged, releasing radiation that will linger for decades and scared away big companies,

along with the many Tsunamis. The Earthquake was also so powerful it managed to shorten the

day by 1.8 microseconds which while not being that much is still very impressive.

What We Could Do In The Future

In the future if a Earthquake like this ever happens again we should create an Emergency

Earthquake Survival Kit that has the essentials you need to survive for at least a week, a plan on

what to do when it happens, a place that you are certain will be safe and hold up for a while that

is in a certain range, proper knowledge about Earthquakes and disasters in general, and have a

proper government relief team in place in case of things like this Earthquake. As for the

buildings we should make them tall enough the people inside can go to the top and be safe if a

Tsunami is caused, and we should strengthen the foundations and support.

Conclusion

In conclusion while Earthquakes are powerful destructive forces that we should certainly be

afraid, of with proper knowledge of where they will most likely happen, precise predictions of
when, respect and knowledge of their destructive forces, and to be properly prepared. We can be

ready for them and limit the destruction they cause.

Definitions

Tectonic Plates - plates which float on and travel independently over the mantle and much of

the earth's seismic activity occurs at the boundaries of these plates

Natural Disasters - a sudden and terrible event in nature (such as a hurricane, tornado, or flood)

that usually results in serious damage and many deaths

Earthquake - a shaking or trembling of the earth that is volcanic or tectonic in origin

Tsunami - a great sea wave produced especially by submarine earth movement or volcanic

eruption

Tokyo - city in southeastern Honshu, Japan, on Tokyo Bay (an inlet of the Pacific); capital of

Japan

Richter Scale - an open-ended logarithmic scale for expressing the magnitude of a seismic

disturbance (such as an earthquake) in terms of the energy dissipated in it with 1.5 indicating

the smallest earthquake that can be felt, 4.5 an earthquake causing slight damage, and 8.5 a

very devastating earthquake

Fault Line - something resembling a fault

Subduction - the action or process in plate tectonics of the edge of one crustal plate descending

below the edge of another

References:

https://www.space.com/11115-japan-earthquake-shortened-earth-days.html

https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/17/world/asia/japan-earthquake---tsunami-fast-

facts/index.html

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110316-japan-earthquake-shortened-

days-earth-axis-spin-nasa-science/

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/11/world/asia/maps-of-earthquake-and-tsunami-

damage-in-japan.html?_r=0

https://www.voanews.com/a/japan-tsunami-estimated-costliest-ever-disaster-

118644489/137021.html

http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/physical/earth/cause.html

(Go to the sites below for more detailed plans on how to survive an Earthquake)

http://totallyunprepared.com/make-a-home-earthquake-ki/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/earthquake-safety-tips/