How did the earthquake at the beginning of the year affect Japan... and what has Japan learned during a century of earthquakes?

2024-01-03 2024-01-03T08:56:08Z

Arabia Weather - On Monday, Japan was hit by a strong earthquake, which raised fears of a tsunami with a height of one meter, prompting the authorities to issue warnings to residents of the need to leave areas at risk and seek refuge in high places.

NHK reported that the earthquake struck the Noto area in Ishikawa Prefecture at approximately 16:10 local time (07:10 GMT) in the early hours of 2024, prompting it to issue an urgent notification to residents of the need to evacuate their homes immediately. And head to the highlands

How did the earthquake at the beginning of the year affect Japan?

The Japanese authorities announced the death of at least 48 people as a result of the violent earthquake that struck the country, and rescue teams are working hard to reach areas where buildings collapsed, roads were damaged, and electricity was cut off from many homes, and the death toll rose on the Noto Peninsula, where the damage is linked to Prefecture. Ishikawa, thousands of military personnel, firefighters and policemen from various parts of the country were sent to this worst-hit area.

However, rescue efforts faced great difficulties; Due to the severe damage to the roads, which led to obstruction of access, the authorities are facing difficulty in estimating the full extent of the damage, and many transport services have been suspended and their impact on the movement of trains and ferries, in addition to their impact on flights to that area, and Noto Airport has been closed due to the damage caused. The runway and other facilities were attached.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida noted that the search and rescue operations constitute a “battle against time,” as rescuers continue their efforts to reach the affected areas, and a report shows that there are fires and widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Japan is on alert after this earthquake, with warnings of the possibility of additional strong tremors in the coming days.

The toll from Japan's earthquakes has climbed to at least 62 dead and 300 injured, with fears it could go higher. https://t.co/5zYfOfGqUb @PaulKadak #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/IOR7JXlPL7

— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) January 3, 2024

What has Japan learned during a century of earthquakes?

It has been about 13 years since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which witnessed a nuclear accident at the Fukushima plant, and despite the passage of this period of time, the memories of that disaster are still strongly present in the consciousness of the Japanese.

They were all brought back to the fore on Monday with the start of earthquake tremors in Ishikawa and tsunami warnings were issued.

In Japan, earthquake warnings remain so common, one resident says that when I first moved there, I would jump out of bed at the slightest vibration in our building, but after several months, I was able to sleep despite the tremors. Earthquakes in Japan have become an integral part of daily life, as people have become very accustomed to them.

Memories of the 1923 Japan earthquake

Over the decades, Japan has witnessed devastating earthquakes, including the Great Kanto Earthquake , which leveled large areas of the city to the ground, and modern buildings, which were built in a European style, collapsed, prompting the adoption of the first earthquake-resistant building law in Japan.

Since then, the Japanese have relied on advanced construction techniques. New buildings have been reinforced with steel and concrete, and wooden building structures have been densified. Every time Japan is hit by a major earthquake, authorities assess the damage and update regulations.

With the occurrence of a 9.0 magnitude earthquake in 2011, remarkable success was achieved in buildings resisting earthquakes, as the degree of shaking in Tokyo reached 5 degrees, the same tremors that the capital was exposed to in 1923.

Despite the progress, it remains difficult to imagine any other country experiencing an earthquake of this magnitude without suffering serious damage.

Memories of the 2011 Japan earthquake

For two minutes the ground shook in a way no one had ever witnessed or remembered, and the effects of the earthquake continued to appear.

Anyone who lived through that experience can accurately remember where he was and how terrified he felt in those moments, but the situation quickly deteriorated after that.

Within just 40 minutes , the first tsunami waves reached shore, crashing into seawalls, causing massive devastation as they swept away towns and villages for hundreds of kilometers along Japan's northeastern coast. All of this was broadcast live on television, as a news helicopter hovered over the city of Sendai.

The next day came even more terrible news: the Fukushima nuclear power plant began to experience a crisis, hundreds of thousands of people were ordered to leave their homes, and not even Tokyo felt safe.

Japan earthquake in 2024

Panic and terror returned to the lives of Japanese people on Monday with the latest earthquake, but this earthquake tells a success story for Japan. Japanese authorities' reports do not address the size of earthquakes, but rather focus on the strength of the shaking, and this is measured on a scale from 1 to 7.

On Monday, vibrations in Ishikawa reached a maximum of 7. Roads and bridges witnessed widespread destruction and massive landslides. However, the vast majority of buildings remained standing, and the life of the cities of Toyama and Kanazawa began to gradually return to normal.

This engineering success is evident when comparing the impact of this earthquake with the impact of the massive Tokyo earthquake in 1923.