What happened after the 2011 earthquake that shook Japan ?

Friday the 11th of March 2011, the beginning of hell in Japan.

On 2011 at 2:46 p.m , a 9.0 magnitude earthquake shook the entire country of Japan. The strength of this earthquake displaced Japan by 2 meters. Luckily, due to the frequent seismic activity in this region, the population was trained to react effectively and to protect themselves.

A few of hours later on the same day, an audio alert was broadcast in the streets. The tsunami warning. Panic overwhelmed people as they raced to higher ground. At 4:10 p.m., a 10 meter wave struck North-East Japan at 600km/h. The wave was born from the earthquake and destroyed many cities such as Minamisanriku and Kamaishi, leaving only a wide trail of mud where houses and streets used to be. Fortunately, some of the taller buildings resisted while inhabitants sheltered on rooftops. The tsumani wave, ultimately killed more than ten thousand people died, most of whom died from drowning.

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Just when Japan thought their emergency was over and had sent first-aid workers to rescue survivors the next day on Saturday, another catastrophe arrived.  

In Fukushima, a large nuclear power plant, the alarm began to sound. The cooling system of the nuclear power station shut down after which it exploded. The government acted quickly to stop the ensuing panic. Fortunately, the problem was not a nuclear explosion but a small leak that didn’t affect the core. Nonetheless, Fukushima’s inhabitants were evacuated. The government ranked the crisis 4 out of 7; the latter being Chernobyl, so the situation was already dangerous.

On Sunday, a state of emergency was declared again. A second explosion occured in the nuclear power plant. The reactor number 3 had exploded and the number 2 was in fusion. On Tuesday, a third explosion happened. The 4 reactors are overheating. The crisis number increases from 4 to 6, just below Chernobyl. The Japanese population and the rest of the world were tensely waiting to see what would happen next.

The situation was so critical that the emperor held a speech, a rarity in Japan. Surprisingly, the earthquake and tsunami were not the causes of the Fukushima failure. It was ultimately an electrical failure near the power station which caused the meltdown.

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Thanks to the population’s speedy reaction to these two natural hazards, a lot of lives were saved demonstrating that regular safety exercises and efficient communication are vital to manage natural and man-made disasters.

Sources:

• 11 mars 2011 Tsunami au Japon : le récit d’une catastrophe, archive INA
• Tremblement de terre, tsunami et explosion nucléaire au Japon, archive INA
• www.aljazeera.com for featured image