March 11

earthquake,
tsunami and nuclear
accident, Japan
It was an earthquake of magnitude Mw = 9.1. Which created tsunami
waves of up to 40.5 m. The earthquake occurred at 14:46:23 local time
(05:46:23 UTC) on Friday, March 11, 2011. The epicenter of the earthquake
was located in the sea off the coast of Honshu, 130 km east of Sendai, in
Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, at a depth of 29.9 km. The earthquake lasted
approximately six minutes, according to seismologists. The USGS
explained that the earthquake occurred because of a displacement in the
vicinity of the interface zone between subducting plates between the
Pacific plate and the North American plate. At the latitude where this
earthquake occurred, the Pacific plate is moving west with respect to the
North American plate at a speed of 83 mm/year. The Pacific Plate dips
below Japan at the Japan Trench, and dips west under Asia.

It was the most powerful earthquake suffered in Japan to date, as well as

the fourth most powerful in the world, in the last five hundred years,
measured or calculated with modern techniques. The tsunami warning
issued by Japan was the most severe on its local warning scale, implying
that a wave of 10 meters in height was expected. Finally a 0.5 meter wave
hit the north coast of Japan. The Kyodo news agency reported that a 4-
meter-tall tsunami had hit Japan's Iwate Prefecture. A 10 meter high wave
was observed at Sendai Airport in Miyagi Prefecture, which was
inundated, with waves washing away cars and buildings as they moved
inland. Tsunami alerts were also issued in the US, Canada, Mexico, Chile,
New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Fiji Islands, Peru, etc. After
the tsunami, the Fukushima nuclear plant exploded due to cooling
problems in reactors 1, 2 and 3.

 Data
Number of Deaths: 19,759

Date: March 11, 2011

Affected areas: Japan; Pacific

Basin

seismic aftershocks: 1235​

Duration: 6 minutes approx.​

Horizontal seismic acceleration:

400

Location: Japan, Tohoku Region,

Tōhoku, Pacific Rim

People evacuated during the

tragedy
1- If I had been in the earthquake, I would have
evacuated.

2- If I had seen the disaster, I would have

helped people

3- If I had been near the explosion of the

nuclear plant, I would have taken an iodine pill
to avoid cancer in the future.

4- If I had been the president of Japan during

that time, I would have set up evacuation
centers

5- If I had been near the sea, I would have

climbed the highest place to avoid the tsunami.

Investigation: English

1st partial

4 semester

Student: Cruz Verdugo Ángel

Michell

Teacher: Dariel Rodríguez

Ventura

School: CBTIS 144