Reaction Paper on 2011 Japan Tsunami

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake shook northeastern Japan, unleashing a savage tsunami.
The March 11 earthquake started on a Friday at 2:46 p.m. local time (5:46 a.m. UTC). It was centered on
the seafloor 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Tohoku, at a depth of 15 miles (24 km) below the surface.
The shaking lasted about six minutes. The effects of the great earthquake were felt around the world,
from Norway's fjords to Antarctica's ice sheet. Tsunami debris has continued to wash up on North
American beaches years later.

The number of confirmed deaths is 15,894 as of June 10, 2016, according to the reconstruction agency.
More than 2,500 people are still reported missing.

More than 120,000 buildings were destroyed, 278,000 were half-destroyed and 726,000 were partially
destroyed. The direct financial damage from the disaster is estimated to be about $199 billion dollars
(about 16.9 trillion yen), according to the Japanese government. The total economic cost could reach up
to $235 billion, the World Bank estimated, making it the costliest natural disaster in world history..

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake struck offshore of Japan, along a subduction zone where two of Earth's
tectonic plates collide. In a subduction zone, one plate slides beneath another into the mantle, the
hotter layer beneath the crust. The great plates are rough and stick together, building up energy that is
released as earthquakes. East of Japan, the Pacific plate dives beneath the overriding Eurasian plate. The
temblor completely released centuries of built up stress between the two tectonic plates, a recent study
found.

Residents of Tokyo received a minute of warning before the strong shaking hit the city. The country's
stringent seismic building codes and early warning system prevented many deaths from the earthquake,
by stopping high-speed trains and factory assembly lines. People in Japan also received texted alerts of
the earthquake and tsunami warnings on their cellphones.

In the tsunami's aftermath, Japan's Meteorological Agency was criticized for issuing an initial tsunami
warning that underestimated the size of the wave. The country recently unveiled a newly installed,
upgraded tsunami warning system. In some regions, such as Miyagi and Fukushima, only 58 percent of
people headed for higher ground immediately after the earthquake, according to a Japanese
government study published in August 2011. Many people also underestimated their personal risk, or
assumed the tsunami would be as small as ones they had previously experienced, the study found.

When a calamity of this magnitude occurs，the human tragedy accompanying it is beyond words. The
sense of despair that engulfed victims against the background of total devastation leaves nothing but an
apocalyptic picture. However ， if a tragedy of that magnitude overwhelms that wide a region, one
cannot help but wonder if there is a way to revive and recreate these devastated regions.

The Japanese people are exhibiting remarkable self-restraint and a spirit of mutual help to overcome
this hardship. With the help of other nations, Japan can overcome this tragic event. The spirit of
volunteerism and cooperation stood out among the nations around the world. This would only prove
that unity is still possible even there are lots of differences among nations. Hopefully, sometime in the
future, the Japanese would be able to utilize this calamity as a springboard to create a new, never
before imagined, Japan.

Submitted by:

JOVEN N. MODELO

12-ICT