Final Blog
Final Blog
Japan has dealt with many disasters over these past recent years. There was the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that had a magnitude of 9.1. This earthquake also caused a tsunami that caused a lot of damage. There was also the 2018 and 2022 heatwave that hit Japan. While there is an abundance of natural hazards, the main two that are more problematic to Japan are tsunamis and typhoons. Before I continue to why those two should be addressed, I do want to mention that while earthquakes are also problematic, Japan's infrastructure has changed over the years to withstand them, which is a given since Japan sits on and is near four tectonic plates.
Japan is an island country that is home to 111 active volcanoes and sits on four tectonic plates which are known to cause earthquakes. The four plates are the Pacific plate, the North American plate, the Eurasian plate, and the Filipino plate. The energy released from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions is known to cause tsunamis. Also, the Pacific and Filipino plates are convergent, which can cause tsunamis. "A total of 143 tidal waves classified as a tsunami since 684 have killed 130, 974 people in Japan" (WorldData.info). If that was not enough to convince you, there was also the tsunami that was caused by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Caused by a seaquake with a magnitude of 9.1, on March 11, 2011, a tsunami that was 55.88 meters, killed 15,950 people, flooded more than 470 ㎢ of land, and relocated over 160,000 people due to the wave damaging reactors from the Fukushima nuclear power plant (WorldData.info).
Cyclones or as it is known in Japan, typhoons, are the second natural hazard that should be addressed and that is because they can, unfortunately, cause other natural hazards and severe weather. The natural hazards they can cause are coastal erosion, flooding, and mass wasting. The severe weather they can cause are tornadoes, thunderstorms, snowstorms, and blizzards. On average, Japan experiences about 14 typhoons a year, with Kyūshū, Chūgoku, and Chūbu being hit the hardest (Typhoons in Japan). The last destructive typhoon that Japan experienced was on September 20, 1965. It was known as super typhoon Vera and it had winds of 306 km/h (190 mph) (Hurricanes: Science and Society). On the Saffir - Simpson Hurrican Wind Scale, Vera's strength was comparable to a category five hurricane. When Vera made landfall in Japan, there was a storm surge of 4 m (13 ft), with winds of around 161 km/h (100 mph) and frequent gusts to 257 km/h (160 mph) (Hurricanes: Science and Society). The typhoon caused floods throughout japan and the affected areas remained in that state for up to four months. Besides flooding, Vera also destroyed 149,187 homes, led to contaminated waters spreading diseases such as Dysentry and Gangrene, Japan's economy dipping because of the damages costing around USD 1.67 billion, shortages in crops, fresh water, and food, 5,000 casualties, 38,921 missing, and 1,596,855 made homeless (Hurricanes: Science and Society).
While these natural hazards are disastrous, there are prevention measures that have been put in place and some I would recommend for Japan to try. Typhoon Vera led to the Soil Conservation and Flood Control Urgent Measurements Act and the Disaster Countermeasures Basis Act. Japan's buildings are built to withstand tremors, winds, typhoons, and heavy snow. Some recommendations I have for typhoons which I got from our textbook Natural Hazards are educating yourself on it, safety drills, constructing weather satellites, and using more money to construct more hurricane forecasting tools. For tsunamis, the "JMA issues a Tsunami Warning/Advisory for each region within around two to three minutes of the quake," and Japan also has educational videos on tsunami safety and brochures (Japan Meteorological Agency). Some I would recommend from our textbook are structural control such as building sea walls, tsunami runup maps to see which areas will be affected the most, and land use. Forest or a lot of rows of plantation trees can reduce the velocity of the water.
To conclude this blog I will now discuss which region I should help first and where I would construct my house if I lived in Japan. The answer to the first question is common sense since both natural hazards involve water. The regions I would provide aid for first would be the cities near the ocean which have a bigger population. With the information I provided, you can see how dangerous these natural hazards are to people. If I want to avoid a tsunami I would construct my house somewhere in Fujiyoshida because it is the city with the highest elevation. If I want to be at least somewhat safe from typhoons, I would live in one of Japan's major cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. This is mainly because of Japan's infrastructure.
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