Week 13: Coastal Hazards
Coastal Hazards in Japan
There are many types of coastal hazards, but the ones Japan suffers from are coastal flooding, tsunamis, and coastal erosion.
Coastal Flooding
Coastal flooding is caused by waves, storm surges, heavy rainfall, and climate change. According to Think Hazard, the hazard level of coastal flooding is rate high in Japan (Think Hazard). What this means is that within ten years, there is a chance of damaging waves causing a flood. To reduce the effects of this hazard, Japan could improve its infrastructure by taking into account the potential problems near the coast. If people are financially affected, there is also insurance.
Tsunamis
Japan is an island country surrounded by four tectonic plates, so one can assume that they receive a lot of tsunamis. "A total of 143 tidal waves classified as a tsunami since 684 have killed 130,974 people in Japan" (WorldData.info). One of the most disastrous tsunamis that hit Japan was on March 11, 2011. It was caused by a seaquake with a magnitude of 9.1 (WorldData.info). The wave, which was 55.88 meters, killed 15,950 people, flooded more than 470 ㎢ of land, and relocated over 160,000 people due to the tsunami damaging reactors from the Fukushima nuclear power plant (WorldDate.info). To reduce the effects of a tsunami, the "JMA issues a Tsunami Warning/Advisory for each region within around two to three minutes of the quake" (Japan Meteorological Agency). Japan also has educational videos on tsunami safety and brochures (Japan Meteorological Agency).
Coastal Erosion
Japan is an island country surrounded by bodies of water, with many forests and mountainous terrain, which makes some parts of Japan "unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use;" the habitable zones are near the coast, which is why Japan has grown concerned over climate change since the rising sea levels, and the increase in wave height would lead to shoreline retreat (Science Daily). To combat this, the Japanese government "set up an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to undertake the study on climate change, to provide future projections of coastal erosion based on representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios" (Science Daily).
Thank you for the information. As you said, Japan receives a lot of tsunamis, and also I was kind of surprised that the country that I choose (Taiwan) is also an island, but not much amount of happening tsunami.
ReplyDeleteHello Japan, my country, Argentina also suffers from coastal erosion, and also has a lot of residents that live on the coast and in areas that are at risk from erosion in the future. It was interesting reading about the coastal erosion of another country as well as tsunamis and flooding, your blog was very informative and included good information.
ReplyDeleteHey nice work on your country's coastal hazards there. For my country, Canada, we suffer from icebergs and fog which can be very difficult to navigate at sea when near the coast line. Nice picture to show the danger level of each section of Japan whenever there's water coming in.
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