¶ … Disasters
Tsunami in Japan
Japan has been having a series of natural disasters of great magnitude from some of which are recorded as early as 1920s with the most common disasters being the earthquakes resulting from seismic actions and storms. The worst of the quakes took place in 1923 with a casualty of 143,000 deaths followed by the March 2011 quake that occasioned a tsunami.
The magnitude of the 2011 earthquake in Japan that triggered the Tsunami from within the Pacific Ocean was 8.9 magnitude, a scale that way higher than the other quakes that have been happening in this region and the surrounding. It is worth noting however that this quake had been expected over many decades by earthquake specialists and geologists. They anticipated a huge earthquake but the magnitude of the quake was way higher than they expected hence the reason for the huge number of people who died. The magnitude of the earthquake can be equated to the number of deaths despite the adequate alarms that were put in place in good time and the warning systems that were activated in proper time.
The monetary cost of the resulting tsunami was pegged at around $122 billion due to the various plants and lavish residential that were demolished along the shore as well as the nuclear firm and such like industries (The International database, 2012).
The relative safety that is found in Japan is due to the alert systems that have been put in place t o foretell the seismic actions of the crust and be able to relay in good time any violent activities of the earths surface. This timely relaying of data gives the authorities those crucial few minutes to vacate people to safer grounds and save lives in the process.
References
The International database, (2012). Country Profile: Japan. Retrieved March 14, 2012 from http://www.emdat.be/result-country-profile
