Tohoku, Japan Earthquake
By Zahra, Alex, Julius, and Leomar
Basic Information
Country: Japan
Japan Population: 127M
Language Spoken: Japanese
Plant and Animal Life in Japan: Many different species of flowering and not flowering plants are found in Japan. The most known species are the lotus flower and the Azaleas. Animals popular in Japan are birds and mostly reptiles such as lizards,geckos, and snakes.
Earth's Plates
Type of Boundary Located Near the Earthquake: Convergent Boundary
Interaction of Plates: The Pacific Ocean plate slipped beneath the continental plate which started to carry Japans Islands. The tention caused by subduction was released, which led to an earthquake.
Driving force for plates: Convention currents are known to be the basic driving force for the plates because convection currents in the upper mantle are transmitted through the asthenosphere.
What are Earthquakes: Earthquakes are sudden and violent movement or shaking in the ground. They can be very destructing and hard.
Why do earthquakes occur?: Earthquakes are caused by stress that builds up over time as blocks of crust attempt to move but are held in place by friction.
California: California has a high number of Earthquakes because of its place on the American Plate.
Hazards and Safety
How to avoid earthquakes: Make sure that you don't live in a earthquake prone area. If you do make sure you have a safe house or somewhere you can go to be protected.
Safety: Practice drills, have an evacuation plans, pack emergency items and bags, flashlights, battery-operated radios, first aid kit, etc.
DIY Emergency Kit:
-water bottles
-canned food
-can opener
-batteries
- medications
-first aid kit
- pens and paper to leave notes
-protective goggles
-heavy duty plastic bags for waste
- flashlights
-hygeine supplies
Tsunami Information
- The tsunami had 30 - foot waves
- the tsunami hit 17 power plants which led 30% of Japans electricity to shut off
- the material damage from the earthquake and tsunami is 25 triillion yen ($300 billion U.S Dollars)
-the tsunami swept about five million tons of debris offshore, but that 70% sank
Why did the tsunami occur if it was an earthquake?: Japan is surrounded by four plates (the Pacific, Northern American, Eurasian, and Filipino). These plates kept on creeping, slipping, locking up, and jolting again. As they bumped into each other they built up pressure. The release of this tension caused an 8.9 earthquake which was so high on the scale it caused a tsunami.