Summary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
1. Overview of the earthquake
On 11 March 2011 at 2:46 p.m., Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake which generated a gigantic tsunami that hit a 700 km stretch of its Pacific coast-lines. It is the largest magnitude ever recorded in Japan and the 3rd in the world, next to the Chile Earthquake in 1960 and the Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. The Japan Meteorological Agency called it the “2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake.” In accordance with the Cabinet decision on April 1, the government named the disaster caused by the earthquake and the following disaster resulted from the nuclear power plant accident as the “Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. (GEJET）”
2. GEJET is summarized as follows:
(1) Time of occurrence
2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011 (JST)
(2) Epicenter
Off the Sanriku coast (38º06.2’ north latitude and 142º51.6’ east longitude)
(3) Depth of the epicenter
24 kilometers
(4) Magnitude of the earthquake
9.0
(5) Seismic intensity
The maximum intensity observed was 7 as measured in Kurihara, Miyagi.
An intensity of 5 lower or higher was observed in 17 prefectures, indicating that the earthquake caused damage
to a wide range of areas in eastern Japan.
(6) Tsunami was caused by the earthquake
The epicenter of this earthquake was off the Pacific Coast to Tohoku area, which caused a huge tsunami that
struck the coastal area.
The tsunami hit 62 municipalities in 6 different prefectures (Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and
Chiba), causing widespread flooding.
In some areas the tsunami was followed by large fires.
The tsunami devastated the Tohoku area, with Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures being heavily affected. In coastal areas, as their public infrastructure such as roads, railways, government offices and hospitals were destroyed by the tsunami, the towns and cities in those areas lost their basic functions.
Otsuchi, Iwate, which suffered devastating damage on 12 March 2011.
(c)JRCS
Kesennuma, Miyagi, which suffered devastating damage on 11 March 2011.
(c)Motoyoshi Hospital
(7) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident
In Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), one of the nuclear power
plants along the coast in Japan, some reactors' cores melted down because of the loss of the core cooling
function, due to the loss of all electric sources by the impact of the tsunami. The steam generated by this
accident eventually exploded buildings, resulting in the release of radioactive materials into the environment.
On 12 April 2011, the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was rated as a level 7 “Major Accident” on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Level 7 is the most serious level on INES and is used to describe an event comprised of “A major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures”. It turns the event into the first triple disaster ever recorded in human history.
(8) Damage
The massive earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on March 11, 2011, caused tremendous damage. In particular,
serious damage was caused in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, where the most human loss of life
accounted for.
| Area | Prefecture | Number of Dead | Number of Missing | Number of Injured | Completely destroyed houses | Half destroyed houses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hokkaido | Hokkaido | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Tohoku | Iwate | 4,675 | 1,111 | 213 | 19,508 | 6,571 |
| Miyagi | 9,543 | 1,216 | 4,145 | 83,005 | 155,130 | |
| Fukushima | 1,614 | 196 | 183 | 15,435 | 82,783 | |
| Aomori | 3 | 1 | 112 | 308 | 701 | |
| Yamagata | 2 | 29 | ||||
| Akita | 11 | |||||
| Kanto | Tokyo | 7 | 117 | 15 | 198 | |
| Ibaraki | 24 | 1 | 712 | 2,635 | 25,013 | |
| Tochigi | 4 | 133 | 261 | 2,118 | ||
| Gunma | 1 | 42 | 7 | |||
| Chiba | 21 | 2 | 263 | 801 | 10,155 | |
| Kanagawa | 4 | 138 | 41 | |||
| Saitama | 45 | 24 | 199 | |||
| Chubu | Nagano | 1 | ||||
| Yamanashi | 2 | |||||
| Mie | 1 | |||||
| Niigata | 3 | |||||
| Shizuoka | 3 | |||||
| Shikoku | Kochi | 1 | ||||
| Total | 15,899 | 2,527 | 6,157 | 121,992 | 282,920 | |
a. Iwate
Catastrophic damage by the large tsunami beyond suppositions
The town office area in Yamada, Iwate was devastated by tsunami and fires caused by the earthquake on 14 March 2011. (c) JRCS
The damages of the earthquake and tsunami concentrated in the coastal areas. The coastal area of Iwate Prefecture has its highly intricate coastline. As the area has frequently been hit by tsunamis, the prefecture had reasonably good preparedness for this type of disaster. However, the area suffered such grave damage that the whole city was destroyed, due to the large tsunami beyond suppositions. The mountain corridor traffic road, which linked the internal urban areas and the seriously damaged coastal areas, was cut off in many places, and it resulted in the difficulty of transporting relief goods and supplies to the people in need.
b. Miyagi
Widespread damage caused by tsunami
The affected area in Ishinomaki,Miyagi on 14 March 2011.(c)JRCS
In Miyagi Prefecture, there were widespread flooding due to the tsunami. As the tsunami hit urbanized coastal areas, it brought great loss of lives and houses. In Ishinomaki City, located in the northern part of Miyagi Prefecture, the local health network was affected and people faced huge difficulties in accessing and receiving medical service.
c. Fukushima
Large-scale evacuation of residents due to the radiological disaster
The affected area in Soma, Fukushima on 19 March 2011. (c)JRCS
The accident happened in TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and radioactive materials were released
into the environment in a wide range. Evacuation orders were issued in 12 municipalities, which led
large-scale evacuation of residents. The number of evacuees was about 160,000 people at its peak period (in
May 2012). As the evacuees, including those evacuated voluntarily, were dispersed throughout the country,
functions of the communities in these areas were weakened significantly.
Since people worried especially about the impact of radiation on their children’s health, many parents
restricted their children from playing outdoors. As a result, the children's lack of physical exercise,
decline of physical strength, increase in stress levels, etc. became an issue.
Prolonged stay in temporary housings has significant impact on the affected people, both physically and
mentally. Earthquake-related deaths are still occurring, and they exceeded the deaths caused directly by the
earthquake and tsunami in November 2013.
(9) Response of the JRCS after of the disaster
Since the onset of the disaster, the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) was active on the ground by providing
much needed emergency medical care and relief services. Furthermore, the JRCS provided the emergency relief
activities to the affected people based on the Disaster Relief Act (Japan).
Relief teams are working to determine the extent of damage at Ishinomaki
Red Cross Hospital on 11 March. (c) JRCS
Mobile clinic is on the way to the Ishinomaki City on 15 March 2011. (c)
JRCS
3. Challenges faced by the affected people which the JRCS addressed
The JRCS has continuously witnessed the challenges faced by the affected people since the emergency response phase immediately after the disaster. There were various needs of the affected people in the disaster area. As the JRCS follows the fundamental principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the organisation has focused on the health and dignity as well as community issues of the affected population.
a. Declining of the functions of the communities
- ・Each time when people have to move to a new location for evacuation, they have to re-establish their social network and human relationships again in the new community. This increases isolation of the people.
- ・As the communities’ functions decline, the safety net of the community such as watching over the elderly and helping each other in a community does not work well.
- ・It is necessary to smoothly build a community in the affected areas as well as in the places where the affected people were relocated.
b. Stress of the affected people, accumulated by prolonged evacuation
- ・Densely populated living conditions in narrow spaces increase inter-personal relationship stress.
- ・Prolonged evacuation may weaken people’s will to live.
- ・People are exposed to consecutive strong stress for a long period, which has a serious impact on their physical and mental health.
c. Increased health risks due to inconvenient and unfamiliar life as evacuees
- ・The risks of developing lifestyle-related diseases or disuse syndrome have increased because of unbalanced diet, lack of daily exercise in narrow housings, and less outings due to living in an unfamiliar community etc.
- ・The challenge is how to maintain the health of people staying in emergency shelters for a long period.
Evacuation center in Rikuzentakata, Iwate in April 2011. (c)JRCS
