Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011 - Term Paper Example Natural disasters account as a perfect example signifying the limitations of the human knowledge and control over the world. Scientists and researchers have tried to devise techniques to find out a solution to these occurrences but they have not achieved success in this field. A tragic natural disaster hit the country of Japan on the 11 march 2011. This tragic occurrence was analyzed to be the worst earthquake that had occurred in the history of the country and was highlighted to have set up alarms up till the United States and the South America. The earthquake was accompanied with a tsunami and resulted in a nuclear disaster in the country which was termed to have a higher severity than the Chernobyl nuclear event. These disasters not only hampered the infrastructure of the country but led to the displacement and deaths of thousands of people and resulted in great economic losses for the country (Japan — Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis 2011). The earthquake in Japan ha s been ranked as the fifth most powerful earthquake of the world since the twentieth century. The earthquake was of the magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale. The earthquake had the highest severity in the northeastern part of Japan. Twenty four thousand people lost their lives or were missing following the earthquake. The tsunami, that resulted due to the earthquake, led to the destruction and drowning of complete villages in the northeastern part of the country. It was estimated that more than 3,400 buildings in the country had undergone destruction and damage. The power supply across the major cities was disrupted and people had to survive with no electricity and gas. Fires erupted across the areas that were hit mainly in the industrial locations as well as in places where there were oil reservoirs meant for storing the oil. The severity and strength of the earthquake did not settle and 100 minor earthquakes followed within a short period. The communication network across the are as that were hit was also disrupted. Immediately following the earthquake, it was understood by the nuclear experts that the tsunami that had resulted due to the earthquake had posed risk of damage to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The chaos that had resulted has not led to provide for a complete analysis of the situation. But owing to the risk, hundred thousands of people were moved from the areas that were close to the nuclear power plants to avoid the adverse effects that could have resulted due to the radiations from the power plants. The combined national organizations and the forces of the country set to work to save the people and move them to safer locations. These included the people from the fire department, police department as well as the armed forces of the country (Dawson et al 2011; Japan — Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis 2011). The earthquake and the tsunami caused enough destruction and negative effects in Japan but the devastation in the country was aggravated by a nuclear breakdown and leakage that occurred in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The nuclear power station had been affected by the tsunami as well as the earthquake. The day following the earthquake hit the country, there was a first blast reported from the nuclear power plant. This was accompanied by a second blast after three days. The