A RETURN TO THE GREAT TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI AND NUCLEAR CATACLYSM

The Monday Turkey earthquake killing at least 7900 had a magnitude of 7.8.  Of course, no tsunami and no nuclear disaster.  The largest earthquakes ever:

1. Valdivia, Chile 22 May 1960 (magnitude 9.5)

This earthquake killed 1655 people, injured 3000 and displaced two million. It caused US$550 million damage in Chile, while the tsunami that it spawned caused deaths and damage as far away as Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines. The 'rupture zone' of the quake was more than 1000 km long. Two days after the initial quake, the nearby volcano Puyehue erupted, sending ash and steam up to 6 km into the atmosphere over a period of several weeks. 

2. Prince William Sound, Alaska 28 March 1964 (magnitude 9.2)

Compared to the Chilean earthquake, this earthquake was less damaging: the resulting tsunami took 128 lives and caused overall US$311 million in damage. The earthquake was felt mainly over Alaska, as well as some places in Canada, while the tsunami created by it caused damage as far away as Hawaii. The most damage was sustained by the city of Anchorage, 120 km north-west of the epicentre. Shaking from the quake itself is reported to have lasted for three minutes. 

3. Sumatra, Indonesia 26 December 2004 (magnitude 9.1)

In terms of damage and loss of life, the scale of the disaster caused by the resulting Boxing Day Tsunami was enormous. In total, 227,900 people were killed or presumed dead, with around 1.7 million displaced over 14 countries in South Asia and East Africa. The epicentre was 250 km south-east of Band Aceh, Indonesia, at a depth of 30 km. Several days later on 28 December, a mud volcano began erupting near Baratang, Andamar Islands, which is thought to have been associated with the earthquake. 

4. Sendai, Japan 11 March 2011 (magnitude 9.0)

So far the official death toll stands at several thousand from the combined effect of the powerful earthquake, aftershocks and the tsunami. However, the total is expected to rise, with some estimates of a final toll of over 10,000. Economic impacts are expected to be huge, with the shutting down of nuclear reactors which many industries rely on for power. 

5. Kamchatka, Russia 4 November 1952 (magnitude 9.0)

This earthquake generated a tsunami that caused widespread damage in the Hawaiian Islands. Property damage was estimated at around US$1,000,000. Some reports describe waves of over 9 m high at Kaena Point, Oahu. A farmer on Oahu reported the loss of six cows to the tsunami, but no people were reported killed.

How well is Japan recovering from that Great Tohoku Disaster of 11March2011?  On 9June2011 I provided an update.   

• Already, I said, I have written four articles for the Huffington Post since the 11March2011 9.0 earthquake off Tohoku, Japan.  This is then the follow-up to The Great Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Cataclysm.

• 
  There were 15,365 deaths, with 8,206 missing. (Total deaths and missing today seem to range between 18,500 and 20,000...or lower than 12 years ago.  In comparison, the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, also 9.1, killed 230,000 people.  The difference is that Japan was prepared, and Indonesia was not)
• 
  Estimated damages were at $300 billion.
• In 2013 Brookings estimated damages of $360 billion.
• In a 2022 LiveScience article, the World Bank estimated an economic cost of $235 billion, which they said would make it the costliest natural disaster in world history.  
• However, in 2018 the Japan Center for Economic Research, a private think tank, said just the nuclear cleanup costs could range from $470 billion to $660 billion, and would take 30 to 40 years.

• 
  Japan has already discharged some radioactive water, and has indicated more will soon need to be discharged.  World seems alarmed.  No question that some of this radioactivity has already been measured in migrating fish like blue fin tuna.
• The death toll was reported to be 19,747, with 2500 still missing.  No relation to covid, but the older you were, the more you were likely to have died, with those over 60 accounting for 66% of all deaths.
• 
  The maximum tsunami wave height was 130 feet in Iwate Prefecture.
• The tsunami height in Chile, 11,000 miles away, reached 6.6 feet.
• Hawaii suffered $31 million damage, California $100 million.
• In the year following, there were 5000 aftershocks, the largest being a magnitude 7.9.
• 
  250 miles of Japan's northern Honshu coastline dropped by 2 feet.
• The jolt moved the main island of Honshu eastward by 8 feet.
• All three Fukushima Daiichi reactor cores largely melted.
• I showed how much the Tokyo Electric Power stock value dropped.

What has happened to this value?  Never recovered.

So what's next?  A mega earthquake is projected to hit Japan in the next 30 years, with a worst case scenario of 230,000 deaths.  Government seismologists predicted in 2018 that there was a 79% chance an 8.9 magnitude quake would occur.

Another estimate said 323,000 people could die along the Nankai Trough or 23,000 if the quake occurs on land near Tokyo.  Among the prospects include:

• Kagoshima prefecture.
• Location close to that Tohoku earthquake.
• Wakayama Prefecture.

• 
  The Nankai Trough, an ocean-floor trench that extends from central Japan to the southern island of Kyushu.
• This trench is where the Philippine sea plate and the Eurasian plate meet.
• Quakes generally occur in 100- or 150-year intervals.  The last one was in 1946, killing 1,362 people.  That was 77 years ago, bringing into play that 30 year time frame.

• 
  Could bring waves as high as 56 feet.
• Tokyo is most-mentioned, already previously hit with the 7.9 Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 killing 105,000.
• Then, of course, what about damage to nuclear powerplants?

Want to experience what happened in Tohoku and Tokyo on 11March2011?  Click on this.  Go to full screen and turn up the volume.  Frightening...graphic.  Actually, viewer discretion is advised.  But if you survived that and want to see more, here is Part 2.  Remember that this 9.1 earthquake lasted for around 6 minutes.  And, yes, there is a Part 3.  I was in Japan soon after and experienced a 7.1 aftershock, which can be read in the Huffington Post.  I stupidly went straight to the window to see what was happening.  I should have immediately run to the bathroom, which was towards the middle of the building.

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