japan tsunami geography case study

Earthquakes and tsunami – WJEC Case study: Japan tsunami 2011 (HIC)

Earthquakes are caused by the release of built-up pressure at plate boundaries. They can destroy buildings and infrastructure. Tsunami can also occur, with equally devastating and deadly effects.

Part of Geography Tectonic landscapes and hazards

Case study: Japan tsunami 2011 (HIC)

On Friday 11 March 2011 at 14:46:24, an earthquake of magnitude nine on the Richter scale close Richter scale The measure by which the strength of earthquakes is determined. occurred. It was at the point where the Pacific tectonic plate slides beneath the North American plate. The epicentre close epicentre The point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake. was 30 kilometres below the Pacific Ocean seabed and 129 kilometres off the east coast of Honshu, Japan. This triggered a tsunami. High, powerful waves were generated and travelled across the Pacific Ocean. The area worst affected by the tsunami was the east coast of Honshu in Japan.

Main impacts

Infrastructure.

• The waves travelled as far as ten kilometres inland in Sendai.
• Ports and airports in Sendai were damaged and closed.
• The waves destroyed protective tsunami seawalls at several locations.
• The massive surge destroyed three-storey buildings where people had gathered for safety.
• A state of emergency was declared at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, where a cooling system failed and released radioactive materials into the environment.
• In July 2013, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), admitted that about 300 tons of radioactive water continued to leak from the plant every day into the Pacific Ocean.

Social and economic

• Four years after the quake, around 230,000 people who lost their homes were still living in temporary housing.
• The total damages from the earthquake and tsunami are estimated at $300 billion (about 25 trillion yen).
• The number of confirmed deaths as of 10 April 2015 is 15,891. More than 2,500 people are still reported missing.

Responses to build capacity to reduce the risk

• The country unveiled a newly-installed, upgraded tsunami warning system in 2013.
• Earthquake engineers examined the damage, looking for ways to construct buildings that are more resistant to earthquakes and tsunamis. Studies are ongoing.

More guides on this topic

• Plate tectonic theory – WJEC
• Volcanoes – WJEC
• Reducing the impacts of natural hazards – WJEC

Related links

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Case Study: How does Japan live with earthquakes?

Japan lies within one of the most tectonically active zones in the world. It experiences over 400 earthquakes every day. The majority of these are not felt by humans and are only detected by instruments. Japan has been hit by a number of high-intensity earthquakes in the past. Since 2000 there are have been 16000 fatalities as the result of tectonic activity.

Japan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the North American, Pacific, Eurasian and Philippine plates come together. Northern Japan is on top of the western tip of the North American plate. Southern Japan sits mostly above the Eurasian plate. This leads to the formation of volcanoes such as Mount Unzen and Mount Fuji. Movements along these plate boundaries also present the risk of tsunamis to the island nation. The Pacific Coastal zone, on the east coast of Japan, is particularly vulnerable as it is very densely populated.

The 2011 Japan Earthquake: Tōhoku

Japan experienced one of its largest seismic events on March 11 2011. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred 70km off the coast of the northern island of Honshu where the Pacific and North American plate meet. It is the largest recorded earthquake to hit Japan and is in the top five in the world since records began in 1900. The earthquake lasted for six minutes.

A map to show the location of the 2011 Japan Earthquake

The earthquake had a significant impact on the area. The force of the megathrust earthquake caused the island of Honshu to move east 2.4m. Parts of the Japanese coastline dr[[ed by 60cm. The seabed close to the focus of the earthquake rose by 7m and moved westwards between 40-50m. In addition to this, the earthquake shifted the Earth 10-15cm on its axis.

The earthquake triggered a tsunami which reached heights of 40m when it reached the coast. The tsunami wave reached 10km inland in some places.

What were the social impacts of the Japanese earthquake in 2011?

The tsunami in 2011 claimed the lives of 15,853 people and injured 6023. The majority of the victims were over the age of 60 (66%). 90% of the deaths was caused by drowning. The remaining 10% died as the result of being crushed in buildings or being burnt. 3282 people were reported missing, presumed dead.

Disposing of dead bodies proved to be very challenging because of the destruction to crematoriums, morgues and the power infrastructure. As the result of this many bodies were buried in mass graves to reduce the risk of disease spreading.

Many people were displaced as the result of the tsunami. According to Save the Children 100,000 children were separated from their families. The main reason for this was that children were at school when the earthquake struck. In one elementary school, 74 of 108 students and 10 out of 13 staff lost their lives.

More than 333000 people had to live in temporary accommodation. National Police Agency of Japan figures shows almost 300,000 buildings were destroyed and a further one million damaged, either by the quake, tsunami or resulting fires. Almost 4,000 roads, 78 bridges and 29 railways were also affected. Reconstruction is still taking place today. Some communities have had to be relocated from their original settlements.

What were the economic impacts of the Japanese earthquake in 2011?

The estimated cost of the earthquake, including reconstruction, is £181 billion. Japanese authorities estimate 25 million tonnes of debris were generated in the three worst-affected prefectures (counties). This is significantly more than the amount of debris created during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. 47,700 buildings were destroyed and 143,300 were damaged. 230,000 vehicles were destroyed or damaged. Four ports were destroyed and a further 11 were affected in the northeast of Japan.

There was a significant impact on power supplies in Japan. 4.4 million households and businesses lost electricity. 11 nuclear reactors were shut down when the earthquake occurred. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was decommissioned because all six of its reactors were severely damaged. Seawater disabled the plant’s cooling systems which caused the reactor cores to meltdown, leading to the release of radioactivity. Radioactive material continues to be released by the plant and vegetation and soil within the 30km evacuation zone is contaminated. Power cuts continued for several weeks after the earthquake and tsunami. Often, these lasted between 3-4 hours at a time. The earthquake also had a negative impact on the oil industry as two refineries were set on fire during the earthquake.

Transport was also negatively affected by the earthquake. Twenty-three train stations were swept away and others experienced damage. Many road bridges were damaged or destroyed.

Agriculture was affected as salt water contaminated soil and made it impossible to grow crops.

The stock market crashed and had a negative impact on companies such as Sony and Toyota as the cost of the earthquake was realised.  Production was reduced due to power cuts and assembly of goods, such as cars overseas, were affected by the disruption in the supply of parts from Japan.

What were the political impacts of the Japanese earthquake in 2011?

Government debt was increased when it injects billions of yen into the economy. This was at a time when the government were attempting to reduce the national debt.

Several years before the disaster warnings had been made about the poor defences that existed at nuclear power plants in the event of a tsunami. A number of executives at the Fukushima power plant resigned in the aftermath of the disaster. A movement against nuclear power, which Japan heavily relies on, developed following the tsunami.

The disaster at Fukushima added political weight in European countries were anti-nuclear bodies used the event to reinforce their arguments against nuclear power.

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Japan's 2011 megaquake left a scar at the bottom of the sea. Scientists finally explored it.

A towering cliff in the Japan Trench of the Pacific Ocean “is unlike anything that’s been observed by science before.”

They were enveloped in an oppressive darkness. The sun, miles above, had vanished long ago. Through tiny windows, they could see the seafloor’s sediments glimmering in the submersible’s headlights. Curious fish flitted around their vessel.

Carefully navigating the inky-black waters was a little like “driving in a car at midnight along a mountain road,” says Hayato Ueda , a geoscientist at Niigata University in Japan and one of the sub’s two occupants.

Ueda and pilot Chris May searched the darkness in their claustrophobic vessel, and eventually a lofty geologic monument emerged from the shadows: an 85-foot-tall cliff climbing into the ocean above. The exposed crest of a cataclysmic rift in Earth’s crust, exactly where Ueda predicted it would be, was part of one of the worst disasters in modern history.

This cliff is a scar of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake that struck off Japan’s eastern shores. That year, on March 11, the magnitude 9.1 temblor deep within the Pacific Ocean unleashed a catastrophic tsunami that hit Japan, killing around 20,000 people and leaving half a million homeless.

In the past decade, scientists have studied the quake by decoding its seismic waves and scanning the depths with sonar. But getting a detailed understanding of what caused the seafloor to convulse required something that initially seemed impossible: examining part of the rupture site in person, within the Japan Trench, almost five miles below the waves.

In 2022 scientists made that ambitious mission a reality. They secured a privately owned deep-sea vessel, the DSV Limiting Factor —a submersible cleared to safely take people down to the crushing, benighted seafloor.

Plunging into the Japan Trench, the divers eventually came upon the incongruous cliff. As reported in a study the journal Communications Earth and Environment , the team determined that this cliff represented the top of a section of a chunk of crust that jumped up by over 190 feet during the 2011 earthquake.

This appears to be “the very absolute tip of the fault that generated that massive earthquake,” says Harold Tobin , director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington, who wasn’t involved in the study. “In this one place, the tip came all the way to the surface and pushed everything up. And they tagged it, they identified it directly in the field. And that’s incredible.”

Uplift features like this have been observed on land, but this is the first time one has been glimpsed by humans in a deep-sea subduction zone trench. This “is unlike anything that’s been observed by science before,” says Christie Rowe , an earthquake geologist at McGill University who was also not involved with the study.

Decoding a disaster

The entire rupture happened over a vast section of the abyss. To have created so much uplift, the fault responsible must have moved about 330 feet near the epicenter during the quake—the largest fault movement of its kind on record. The violently uprooted cliff that resulted was part of the reason the quake generated a calamitous tsunami.  

The location of this megaquake is not so surprising. The Japan Trench is a major quake-making machine ; since 1973, it has produced nine temblors above magnitude 7. This frequent shaking occurs because the trench is a subduction zone, where the colossal Pacific tectonic plate is being forced underneath the Okhotsk microplate.

But even so, the 2011 quake proved surprisingly powerful. It struck a little westward of the Japan Trench, about 18 miles below the seafloor, causing a gargantuan rupture over a 24,000-square-mile area. Seismic waves from the event and sonar-like mapping conducted by ships before and immediately after the quake suggested the fault responsible moved as much as 200 feet—an almost unbelievable amount, and still less than the recent expedition has ascertained.

“The Tohoku earthquake was obviously a massive watershed event. It’s a game changer in lots of ways,” says Tobin. Unraveling that fault’s behavior matters not just to Japan, but to anywhere in the world that will one day experience its own subduction-zone triggered tsunami, including the U.S. Pacific Northwest , which was inundated by a major tsunami three centuries ago.

The geologic jolt in Japan seemed so extreme that scientists wanted to find the physical evidence of it at the site itself. “It’s like what a geologist would do in the field,” says Tobin. “Except this happens to be eight kilometers [five miles] below the surface of the water.” At those high-pressure depths, most submersibles—including robotic ones—would malfunction or implode .

Enter: DSV Limiting Factor . Built by the American manufacturer Triton Submarines , and funded and owned by Victor Vescovo —an investor, former naval officer, and undersea explorer—this highly durable two-person vessel can dive down to 36,000 feet, making it one of the only submersibles capable of the journey into the Japan Trench.

“It’s an incredible submarine,” says Tobin.

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Illuminating the abyss.

In September 2022, drifting on the Pacific’s midnight-blue waves aboard the support boat DSSV Pressure Drop , Ueda and his colleagues perused their geologic and bathymetric charts. “I had to decide the exact point where the submersible will land,” he says. “I carefully read topography from the map and selected the most probable point where the fault features could exist.”

A proverbial X was scored on the map. They were ready. On September 4, Ueda and pilot Chris May climbed into the two cramped seats of the DSV Limiting Factor and began their quest into the depths.

After several hours they reached the seafloor within the Japan Trench. Ueda had visited oceanic depths before, but nothing this deep and dark. Throughout their dive, video cameras mounted on the outside of the submersible recorded their traversal, including the approach to the 85-foot-high cliff that did not exist prior to the 2011 quake.

“On the way floating up to the sea surface, I had much time—I don't remember well, but perhaps two hours or more—to consider about what I saw,” says Ueda. When he rewatched the video recordings from the dive, he became confident: this was something known as fault scarp, a part of the earthquake’s surface breakthrough that causes a change in elevation.

But the cliff was only the very top of the uplift. To properly measure its scale, the submersible had risen to the feature’s peak—and as it ascended, its pressure sensors were used to calculate the height difference between the basin floor at the clifftop. It was 194 feet—the seafloor’s vertical displacement at this location during the 2011 megaquake, according to the study.

The seafloor likely rose along many parts of the gigantic rupture in the Pacific, but this section jumped up by the height of a 14-story building. “That displacement is at least part of the tsunami source,” says Tobin.

Quakes of the deep

Using this new information, the team estimates that the fault slipped by 260 to 400 feet in total at this location during the earthquake—a staggering amount, perhaps twice as much as previously suspected.

It’s a reasonable calculation, says Judith Hubbard , an earthquake scientist at Cornell University not involved with the study. But reconstructing fault geometry on land is troublesome. Doing the same work on the seafloor—doubly so. And in tectonic terms, this part of the crust is a tangled nightmare. “This is a really complicated area. There’s a huge amount of stuff going on,” Hubbard says.

Crucially, though, “they didn’t overdo their claims,” says Tobin, who considers the evidence direct, robust, and elegant. Scientists knew the 2011’s rupture’s slip was tremendous. “This case is as bulletproof as you’re ever going to get,” he says.

The 2011 quake still retains much of its mystery. This site represents just a small section of an expansive rupture, and each part behaved uniquely during the fault’s mighty jolt. “It is difficult to provide an idea or story about the entire disaster,” says Ueda.

But this study has already set a new benchmark for untangling the depths and enigmas of subduction zone megaquakes. “I didn’t know it was technically possible” to make this journey to the seafloor, says Rowe. “I’m super pumped. It’s like being an astronaut.”

This work will bring protective benefits to Japan’s shores, and it will no doubt provide scientific succor to other coastal nations. Over the past two decades, an increasing number of tsunami early-warning systems have been placed in the world’s oceans. They rely on catching the seismic waves from aquatic quakes and quickly analyzing them.

But scientists are sometimes surprised. A tsunami can be forecast, but it can be more significant than predicted, or considerably smaller—or even nonexistent. The most important question is: “How big is that scarp on the seafloor? Because that’s your tsunami trigger,” says Rowe.

Using this study and other research to tweak tsunami forecast models could bolster efforts to save lives in future geologic disasters.

“It was surely fantastic to see such important features that nobody has ever seen. I'm honored to find it,” says Ueda. But he recounts his discovery with a somber note. “It might be this cliff that took more than 20,000 lives.”

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Case Study: Japan 2010 Tsunami

Impacts of the japan earthquake in 2011.

Japan is a developed country in east Asia. Japan's geography is dominated by islands. The country is a high-risk area for tectonic hazards.

What caused the 2011 Japan tsunami?

• There was an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 in northeast Japan on the 11th March 2011.
• The earthquake is known as the Tohoku earthquake.

Primary impacts

• 1 million buildings were damaged and over 120,000 buildings were completely destroyed.
• Many buildings sunk into the ground because of liquefaction, which is when waterlogged soil acts like a liquid.

Secondary impacts

• The tsunami that was caused by the earthquake caused thousands of deaths (it is hard to know how many people died in the earthquake or the tsunami and lots of people are still missing).
• More than 150,000 people became homeless and in 2017, 6 years on, 50,000 people still had no homes.
• The tsunami damaged the Fukushima nuclear power station. Electricity could no longer reach Fukushima and there was a nuclear meltdown at the plant, releasing toxic nuclear waste into the local area.
• Railways lines were destroyed by the tsunami.

Long-term impact and response

• Economists estimate that the total damage done by the earthquake and tsunami is $200 bn. This is the largest amount of damage caused by any natural disaster ever.
• Japan was a high income country and had a new tsunami warning system. But, studies suggest that only 58% paid any attention to the tsunami warning.
• In the 12 months after the Tohoku earthquake, there were 5,000 aftershocks in Japan.

1 Geography Skills

1.1 Mapping

1.1.1 Map Making

1.1.2 OS Maps

1.1.3 Grid References

1.1.4 Contour Lines

1.1.5 Symbols, Scale and Distance

1.1.6 Directions on Maps

1.1.7 Describing Routes

1.1.8 Map Projections

1.1.9 Aerial & Satellite Images

1.1.10 Using Maps to Make Decisions

1.2 Geographical Information Systems

1.2.1 Geographical Information Systems

1.2.2 How do Geographical Information Systems Work?

1.2.3 Using Geographical Information Systems

1.2.4 End of Topic Test - Geography Skills

2 Geology of the UK

2.1 The UK's Rocks

2.1.1 The UK's Main Rock Types

2.1.2 The UK's Landscape

2.1.3 Using Rocks

2.1.4 Weathering

2.2 Case Study: The Peak District

2.2.1 The Peak District

2.2.2 Limestone Landforms

2.2.3 Quarrying

3 Geography of the World

3.1 Geography of America & Europe

3.1.1 North America

3.1.2 South America

3.1.3 Europe

3.1.4 The European Union

3.1.5 The Continents

3.1.6 The Oceans

3.1.7 Longitude

3.1.8 Latitude

3.1.9 End of Topic Test - Geography of the World

4 Development

4.1 Development

4.1.1 Classifying Development

4.1.3 Evaluation of GDP

4.1.4 The Human Development Index

4.1.5 Population Structure

4.1.6 Developing Countries

4.1.7 Emerging Countries

4.1.8 Developed Countries

4.1.9 Comparing Development

4.2 Uneven Development

4.2.1 Consequences of Uneven Development

4.2.2 Physical Factors Affecting Development

4.2.3 Historic Factors Affecting Development

4.2.4 Human & Social Factors Affecting Development

4.2.5 Breaking Out of the Poverty Cycle

4.3 Case Study: Democratic Republic of Congo

4.3.1 The DRC: An Overview

4.3.2 Political & Social Factors Affecting Development

4.3.3 Environmental Factors Affecting the DRC

4.3.4 The DRC: Aid

4.3.5 The Pros & Cons of Aid in DRC

4.3.6 Top-Down vs Bottom-Up in DRC

4.3.7 The DRC: Comparison with the UK

4.3.8 The DRC: Against Malaria Foundation

4.4 Case Study: Nigeria

4.4.1 The Importance & Development of Nigeria

4.4.2 Nigeria's Relationships with the Rest of the World

4.4.3 Urban Growth in Lagos

4.4.4 Population Growth in Lagos

4.4.5 Factors influencing Nigeria's Growth

4.4.6 Nigeria: Comparison with the UK

5 Weather & Climate

5.1 Weather

5.1.1 Weather & Climate

5.1.2 Components of Weather

5.1.3 Temperature

5.1.4 Sunshine, Humidity & Air Pressure

5.1.5 Cloud Cover

5.1.6 Precipitation

5.1.7 Convectional Precipitation

5.1.8 Frontal Precipitation

5.1.9 Relief or Orographic Precipitation

5.1.10 Wind

5.1.11 Extreme Wind

5.1.12 Recording the Weather

5.1.13 Extreme Weather

5.2 Climate

5.2.1 Climate of the British Isles

5.2.2 Comparing Weather & Climate London

5.2.3 Climate of the Tropical Rainforest

5.2.4 End of Topic Test - Weather & Climate

5.3 Tropical Storms

5.3.1 Formation of Tropical Storms

5.3.2 Features of Tropical Storms

5.3.3 The Structure of Tropical Storms

5.3.4 Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina Effects

5.3.5 Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina Responses

6 The World of Work

6.1 Tourism

6.1.1 Landscapes

6.1.2 The Growth of Tourism

6.1.3 Benefits of Tourism

6.1.4 Economic Costs of Tourism

6.1.5 Social, Cultural & Environmental Costs of Tourism

6.1.6 Tourism Case Study: Blackpool

6.1.7 Ecotourism

6.1.8 Tourism Case Study: Kenya

7 Natural Resources

7.1.1 What are Rocks?

7.1.2 Types of Rock

7.1.4 The Rock Cycle - Weathering

7.1.5 The Rock Cycle - Erosion

7.1.6 What is Soil?

7.1.7 Soil Profiles

7.1.8 Water

7.1.9 Global Water Demand

7.2 Fossil Fuels

7.2.1 Introduction to Fossil Fuels

7.2.2 Fossil Fuels

7.2.3 The Global Energy Supply

7.2.5 What is Peak Oil?

7.2.6 End of Topic Test - Natural Resources

8.1 River Processes & Landforms

8.1.1 Overview of Rivers

8.1.2 The Bradshaw Model

8.1.3 Erosion

8.1.4 Sediment Transport

8.1.5 River Deposition

8.1.6 River Profiles: Long Profiles

8.1.7 River Profiles: Cross Profiles

8.1.8 Waterfalls & Gorges

8.1.9 Interlocking Spurs

8.1.10 Meanders

8.1.11 Floodplains

8.1.12 Levees

8.1.13 Case Study: River Tees

8.2 Rivers & Flooding

8.2.1 Flood Risk Factors

8.2.2 Flood Management: Hard Engineering

8.2.3 Flood Management: Soft Engineering

8.2.4 Flooding Case Study: Boscastle

8.2.5 Flooding Case Study: Consequences of Boscastle

8.2.6 Flooding Case Study: Responses to Boscastle

8.2.7 Flooding Case Study: Bangladesh

8.2.8 End of Topic Test - Rivers

8.2.9 Rivers Case Study: The Nile

8.2.10 Rivers Case Study: The Mississippi

9.1 Formation of Coastal Landforms

9.1.1 Weathering

9.1.2 Erosion

9.1.3 Headlands & Bays

9.1.4 Caves, Arches & Stacks

9.1.5 Wave-Cut Platforms & Cliffs

9.1.6 Waves

9.1.7 Longshore Drift

9.1.8 Coastal Deposition

9.1.9 Spits, Bars & Sand Dunes

9.2 Coast Management

9.2.1 Management Strategies for Coastal Erosion

9.2.2 Case Study: The Holderness Coast

9.2.3 Case Study: Lyme Regis

9.2.4 End of Topic Test - Coasts

10 Glaciers

10.1 Overview of Glaciers & How They Work

10.1.1 Distribution of Glaciers

10.1.2 Types of Glaciers

10.1.3 The Last Ice Age

10.1.4 Formation & Movement of Glaciers

10.1.5 Shaping of Landscapes by Glaciers

10.1.6 Glacial Landforms Created by Erosion

10.1.7 Glacial Till & Outwash Plain

10.1.8 Moraines

10.1.9 Drumlins & Erratics

10.1.10 End of Topic Tests - Glaciers

10.1.11 Tourism in Glacial Landscapes

10.1.12 Strategies for Coping with Tourists

10.1.13 Case Study - Lake District: Tourism

10.1.14 Case Study - Lake District: Management

11 Tectonics

11.1 Continental Drift & Plate Tectonics

11.1.1 The Theory of Plate Tectonics

11.1.2 The Structure of the Earth

11.1.3 Tectonic Plates

11.1.4 Plate Margins

11.2 Volcanoes

11.2.1 Volcanoes & Their Products

11.2.2 The Development of Volcanoes

11.2.3 Living Near Volcanoes

11.3 Earthquakes

11.3.1 Overview of Earthquakes

11.3.2 Consequences of Earthquakes

11.3.3 Case Study: Christchurch, New Zealand Earthquake

11.4 Tsunamis

11.4.1 Formation of Tsunamis

11.4.2 Case Study: Japan 2010 Tsunami

11.5 Managing the Risk of Volcanoes & Earthquakes

11.5.1 Coping With Earthquakes & Volcanoes

11.5.2 End of Topic Test - Tectonics

12 Climate Change

12.1 The Causes & Consequences of Climate Change

12.1.1 Evidence for Climate Change

12.1.2 Natural Causes of Climate Change

12.1.3 Human Causes of Climate Change

12.1.4 The Greenhouse Effect

12.1.5 Effects of Climate Change on the Environment

12.1.6 Effects of Climate Change on People

12.1.7 Climate Change Predictions

12.1.8 Uncertainty About Future Climate Change

12.1.9 Mitigating Against Climate Change

12.1.10 Adapting to Climate Change

12.1.11 Case Study: Bangladesh

13 Global Population & Inequality

13.1 Global Populations

13.1.1 World Population

13.1.2 Population Structure

13.1.3 Ageing Populations

13.1.4 Youthful Populations

13.1.5 Population Control

13.1.6 Mexico to USA Migration

13.1.7 End of Topic Test - Development & Population

14 Urbanisation

14.1 Urbanisation

14.1.1 Rural Characterisitcs

14.1.2 Urban Characteristics

14.1.3 Urbanisation Growth

14.1.4 The Land Use Model

14.1.5 Rural-Urban Pull Factors

14.1.6 Rural-Urban Push Factors

14.1.7 The Impacts of Migration

14.1.8 Challenges of Urban Areas in Developed Countries

14.1.9 Challenges of Urban Areas in Developing Countries

14.1.10 Urban Sustainability

14.1.11 Case Study: China's Urbanisation

14.1.12 Major UK Cities

14.1.13 Urbanisation in the UK

14.1.14 End of Topic Test- Urbanisation

14.1.15 End of Topic Test - Urban Issues

15 Ecosystems

15.1 The Major Biomes

15.1.1 Distribution of Major Biomes

15.1.2 What Affects the Distribution of Biomes?

15.1.3 Biome Features: Tropical Forests

15.1.4 Biome Features: Temperate Forests

15.1.5 Biome Features: Tundra

15.1.6 Biome Features: Deserts

15.1.7 Biome Features: Tropical Grasslands

15.1.8 Biome Features: Temperate Grasslands

15.2 Case Study: The Amazon Rainforest

15.2.1 Interdependence of Rainforest Ecosystems

15.2.2 Nutrient Cycling in Tropical Rainforests

15.2.3 Deforestation in the Amazon

15.2.4 Impacts of Deforestation in the Amazon

15.2.5 Protecting the Amazon

15.2.6 Adaptations of Plants to Rainforests

15.2.7 Adaptations of Animals to Rainforests

16 Life in an Emerging Country

16.1 Case Studies

16.1.1 Mumbai: Opportunities

16.1.2 Mumbai: Challenges

17 Analysis of Africa

17.1 Africa

17.1.1 Desert Biomes in Africa

17.1.2 The Semi-Desert Biome

17.1.3 The Savanna Biome

17.1.4 Overview of Tropical Rainforests

17.1.5 Colonisation History

17.1.6 Population Distribution in Africa

17.1.7 Economic Resources in Africa

17.1.8 Urbanisation in Africa

17.1.9 Africa's Location

17.1.10 Physical Geography of Africa

17.1.11 Desertification in Africa

17.1.12 Reducing the Risk of Desertification

17.1.13 Case Study: The Sahara Desert - Opportunities

17.1.14 Case Study: The Sahara Desert - Development

18 Analysis of India

18.1 India - Physical Geography

18.1.1 Geographical Location of India

18.1.2 Physical Geography of India

18.1.3 India's Climate

18.1.4 Natural Disasters in India

18.1.5 Case Study: The Thar Desert

18.1.6 Case Study: The Thar Desert - Challenges

18.2 India - Human Geography

18.2.1 Population Distribution in India

18.2.2 Urabinsation in India

18.2.3 The History of India

18.2.4 Economic Resources in India

19 Analysis of the Middle East

19.1 The Middle East

19.1.1 Physical Geography of the Middle East

19.1.2 Human Geography of the Middle East

19.1.3 Climate Zones in the Middle East

19.1.4 Climate Comparison with the UK

19.1.5 Oil & Natural Gas in the Middle East

19.1.6 Water in the Middle East

19.1.7 Population of the Middle East

19.1.8 Development Case Studies: The UAE

19.1.9 Development Case Studies: Yemen

19.1.10 Supporting Development in Yemen

19.1.11 Connection to the UK

19.1.12 Importance of Oil

19.1.13 Oil & Tourism in the UAE

20 Analysis of Bangladesh

20.1 Bangladesh Physical Geography

20.1.1 Location of Bangladesh

20.1.2 Climate of Bangladesh

20.1.3 Rivers in Bangladesh

20.1.4 Flooding in Bangladesh

20.2 Bangladesh Human Geography

20.2.1 Population Structure in Bangladesh

20.2.2 Urbanisation in Bangladesh

20.2.3 Bangladesh's Economy

20.2.4 Energy & Sustainability in Bangladesh

21 Analysis of Russia

21.1 Russia's Physical Geography

21.1.1 Russia's Climate

21.1.2 Russia's Landscape

21.2 Russia's Human Geography

21.2.1 Population of Russia

21.2.2 Russia's Economy

21.2.3 Energy & Sustainability in Russia

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Formation of Tsunamis

Coping With Earthquakes & Volcanoes

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A-Level Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Case Study

Subject: Geography

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

23 June 2020

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Full of Facts, Causes, Impacts and Responses! Can be used for short, long and essay questions! Great for Teachers and Students!

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A-Level Earthquake Case Studies

Range of Case Studies from LEDCs and MEDCs Full of Facts, Causes, Impacts and Responses! Can be used for short, long and essay questions! Great for Teachers and Students!

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Sakurajima Case Study

This case study has been developed to support students studying Edexcel B GCSE Geography. 

Japan is located on a convergent plate boundary where the Eurasian plate is subducted by the Pacific and Philipinnes plates, causing a series of volcanoes.

A map to show the tectonic setting of Japan and the location of Sakurajima

Sakurajima, Japan’s most active volcano , is located on the southern island of Kyushu and has erupted since the 1950s, sometimes over 200 times a year. As it is situated on a convergent plate margin, Sakurajima is a stratovolcano formed from layers of lava and ash. Eruptions are explosive, producing large volumes of ash, pyroclastic flows, volcanic bombs and poisonous gases. The lava is andesitic, meaning it has a high gas content and is very viscous (thick).

What are the Primary Impacts of Sakurajima?

The primary effects of a volcanic eruption are those caused instantly. These are directly linked to the type of volcano and eruption.

The primary effects of the Sakurajima eruptions include:

• Approximately 30km³ of ash erupts from the volcano annually, causing damage to crops and electricity lines. To avoid disruption, ash regularly needs to be cleared from urban areas.
• Ash reduces visibility, making roads unsafe for driving. Air travel is also disrupted as ash poses a risk to aeroplane engines.
• Eruptions of lava and ash have destroyed homes and crops in the past.

The Torii gate of Kurokami Shrine

• Strong earthquakes have occurred during violent eruptions. Fifty-eight people died from an earthquake triggered by Sakurajima’s last major eruption in 1914.
• Shock waves caused by the eruption of Sakurajima have shattered windows over 10km away from the volcano.
• During violent eruptions, volcanic bombs have been thrown over 3km from Sakurajima, cracking car windshields.

What are the Secondary Impacts of Sakurajima?

The secondary effects of a volcanic eruption are those that occur in the hours, days and weeks after an eruption.

The secondary effects of the Sakurajima eruptions include:

• Continual ashfall from the volcano has caused respiratory problems such as asthma.
• Studies have linked volcanic emissions in the area to increased cancer rates.
• Crops have been damaged by acid rain caused by gases emitted by the volcano combined with rainfall.
• The soil around the Sakurajima is very fertile due to its volcanic soil. This has supported the growth of the tea and rice industry in Kagoshima, the region overlooked by the volcano.
• The area is a major tourist destination due to the volcano, its national park status, scenery and hot springs. This has brought money to the area and has created many jobs.

How are Sakurajima’s Hazards Managed?

Management of volcanic hazards includes short-term relief (shelter and supplies) and long-term planning (trained and funded emergency services), preparation (warning and evacuation ; building design) and prediction .

Japan is a developed country; therefore, it can afford to finance monitoring , protection and evacuations.

Short-term relief

Residents local to Sakurajima are instructed to evacuate when alert levels are raised. For example, in 2015, residents closest to the volcano had to evacuate when alert levels were increased to four (out of five). Evacuation cards were issued so the authorities could monitor who had evacuated and where they had evacuated.

Ash bags are issued to residents during periods of high ashfall to remove ash from their properties, including roofs and pavements. The bags are then collected from residential ash collection areas by the council and disposed of.

Residents wear masks and close windows during periods of high ashfall. In addition, during periods of high activity, areas close to the volcano are declared off-limits to tourists and residents to protect people from poisonous gases and volcanic bombs.

People use the concrete lava bomb shelters around the volcano to protect themselves from being hit by material ejected from the volcano during unexpected eruptions.

A lava bomb shelter close to Sakurajima

Long-term planning

Preparation

Several shelters have been constructed to offer protection during and after eruptions. These are signposted so people can get to them quickly.

Concrete channels have been constructed to divert volcanic mudflows, known as lahars, from developed areas.

A warning scale of 1-5 has been developed, so people know when to evacuate. In addition, local people have been directed to have evacuation kits available that include hardhats to protect people from volcanic material.

There are annual disaster drills for residents and emergency services to practice evacuation. In addition, a 2km zone surrounding the volcano has been established that prohibits people from getting too close.

An evacuation plan has been developed and shared with local people, so they know the procedures they must follow during an eruption, including which ports to use for evacuation.

The volcano is closely monitored to that eruption predictions can be made. Gas levels are monitored by aircraft above Sakurajima. When gas levels are high, this can indicate an eruption is imminent. Seismometers are used to measure earthquakes associated with rising magma, and tiltmeters monitor the shape of the land for any bulges or ground swelling, signs of rising magma.

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