EARTHSC 2GG3 Lecture 5: Natural Disasters - Lecture 5 - Tsunami
16 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Occurred on march 11, 2011, killing ~ 16,000 people. Source was a m 9. 0 earthquake beneath the seafloor: subduction zone east of honshu island. The direct damage from the earthquake and tsunami was u. s. billion: most expensive natural disaster in history. Three nuclear reactors were damaged which led to their meltdown: thousands of residents were forced to evacuate. The tsunami propagated throughout the pacific ocean, causing 2m high waves in. Only 58% of people in highest impacted areas heeded the tsunami warnings and evacuated to higher ground. Japan was unprepared for the size of the tsunami. Earthquake and tsunami education is necessary for people who live on or visit coastlines. Scientific research on historic tsunamis has not yet found its way into decision- making process: a warning system alone is not enough. A tsunami is a series of waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of water.
