The 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster.. The unforgettable memory of the disaster.. How did it happen and what were the damages?

Weather of Arabia - This year marks the 11th anniversary of the largest earthquake disaster in the recorded history of Japan, which occurred on March 11, 2011. An earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale occurred off the coast of Sanriku, resulting in massive tsunami waves that caused massive material damage and human losses, as well as The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was damaged.

The coastal areas of the Tohoku region, bordering the Pacific Ocean, were the most affected, so the earthquake was called the Tohoku earthquake.

How did the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami happen

The earthquake that led to the disaster was caused by the sudden vertical movement of the tectonic plates, rupturing part of the subduction zone associated with the Japan Ridge, which separates the Eurasian plate from the sloping Pacific plate, the epicenter of the earthquake was centered at a depth of about 30 km in the western Pacific Ocean.

The March 11 earthquake was felt in far regions of Russia, Taiwan and China, and it was one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded. The Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanic Studies During the earthquake monitoring process, it is widely expected that the earthquake has displaced the Earth's rotation axis by ten centimeters.

(Map of the northern part of the main island of Honshu in Japan showing the intensity of the shaking caused by the March 11, 2011 earthquake, which had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean)

As a result of the earthquake, the huge amount of water coming from the middle of the Pacific Ocean towards the Japanese coast caused a tsunami that raised the sea water to very high levels of up to 10 meters, hitting the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The tsunami's impact was not limited to off the coast of the Pacific Ocean; Rather, his influence extended to the US Hawaiian Islands, Canada, Mexico, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Damage to Japan as a result of the 2011 earthquake

In the days following the disaster, the scale of the destruction began to appear more clear, and rescue operations were started, and searches for deaths and missing persons were started, and the confirmed number of deaths, or missing persons, reached about 28,500 people, the number decreased by the end of 2011 AD, due to finding a large number of people who They were believed to be among the dead, and the latest estimates put the death toll from the disaster at 18,500.

In addition to the human vacant lot, the earthquake that struck the northeastern part of Japan caused huge losses to the country's economy, including the destruction of the Japanese airport Sendai, and the recording of great material losses, as well as damage to oil stations, and large numbers of economic activities were disrupted in the coastal areas affected by the earthquake. And the tsunami, and the huge waves damaged the infrastructure and destroyed large numbers of homes, and the material losses were estimated at 199 billion dollars.

Following this earthquake, the Energy Agency announced the closure of nuclear plants located near the center of Japan, including the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, in which the failure of the cooling system led to an explosion in three nuclear reactors, which led to a radioactive leak, which prompted the government, and the competent authorities to Evacuate the area around the factory within a limit of 20-30 km.