On 1st January 2024, when the world was celebrating the beginning of a new year, Japan was hit by a terrible 7.6-magnitude earthquake. "In Western Japan, scenes of devastation are emerging after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook the country k!lling dozens of people."
This earthquake was not alone. Numerous earthquakes, small and big, followed this. In total, more than 155 earthquakes occurred in just one day. Because of this, sea waves about 1 meter high hit the west coast of Japan. Japan's meteorological agency had also issued a major tsunami alert.
Although this warning was downgraded later, but the earthquake itself caused substantial damage. Dozens of buildings were completely destroyed. Electricity was cut off for thousands of houses.
Some places were engulfed in flames. And as of 2nd January, 55 people have been declared d3ad. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says that this situation is a battle against time. Rescue operations are underway and efforts are being made to save the trapped people.
But on 2nd January, another unfortunate incident took place in this country. A Japan Airlines airplane crashed with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft in Tokyo airport. Thereafter, both planes caught on fire.
"Japan Airlines plane has caught fire at Tokyo's Hanida Airport. And all runways, at the airport, have been closed." This Japan Coast Guard aircraft was getting ready to help people affected by the earthquake.
Fortunately, all the people in the other plane were evacuated safely. But 5 out of 6 crew members in the Coast Guard aircraft lost their lives. The 29-year-old plane captain was the only one who could survive.
Two big questions arise here. First, why are there so many earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan? Second, how does Japan deal with these disasters? Because if an earthquake of the same magnitude had hit any other country, perhaps, thousands of people would have lost their lives.
The d3ath toll in Japan is below 100 as of now. How does Japan protect itself against such circumstances? Let's understand this in this video. The earthquake that just hit Japan is named the 2024 Sea of Japan earthquake or the Noto Peninsula earthquake.
You can see its exact location on this map on the screen. There's a region called the Noto Peninsula in Japan. You have read about peninsulas in school. It is a piece of land surrounded by water on three sides. The epic centre of this earthquake was located here. The Sea of Japan, in the west of the country.
It is 500 km away from Tokyo, Japan's capital. But even so, this earthquake was felt in Tokyo. Now, our first question is, why do so many earthquakes take place in Japan? The answer to this is hidden in the map. Look at this map. This is the map of the Earth's 16 major tectonic plates.
Tectonic plates are the outer-most layer of the Earth, made up of the Earth's crust and the upper part of the mantle. The heat that is generated in Earth's core, releases convection currents which causes the tectonic plates to move slowly. These are the 16 main tectonic plates that move slowly year after year. When they collide with each other, earthquakes happen.
So, the countries and the areas that lie on the boundaries of the tectonic plates are prone to earthquakes the most. And the thing about Japan is that it is situated at a place where four tectonic plates come together. The Pacific plate, the Philippine plate, the Eurasian plate, and the North American plate.
This is the biggest reason why so many earthquakes are seen in Japan. Among them, the Pacific plate stands out a bit. Since it has the highest amount of tectonic activity. So, the boundary of the Pacific plate is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Because this causes the highest number of earthquakes in the world.
As well as the highest number of volcanoes. To some extent, this is true for the other plates as well. And the countries located on their boundaries witness a higher frequency of earthquakes. For example, if you see India's northern boundary, the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates, that passes through Nepal, amidst the Himalayan mountains, this causes devastating earthquakes in Nepal.
The earthquakes in North India, in Delhi and its surrounding regions, in most cases, their epicenter lies between these two plates. Compare this with regions like Australia, Russia or Europe, where you rarely see any earthquakes. When was the last time you heard about a terrible earthquake in Australia? It's not like there have been no earthquakes in Australia at all.
But the regions that lie in the middle of the tectonic plates, get earthquakes at a lower frequency. And when earthquakes do occur, they are not as devastating. And the reason behind this is that these major tectonic plates are made up of minor tectonic plates. And, at times, the collision between the major tectonic plates can be felt even in the middle of the plate.
But depending on the way that these main tectonic plates collide with each other, various types of boundaries can be formed. Such as the Convergent boundary, when one plate collides and slips under the other. Or Divergent boundary, where both plates move away from each other.
Or Transform boundary, when both plates move parallel against each other. Among these, the most dangerous earthquakes occur when convergent or transform boundaries are formed. And the boundary of the Pacific plate is a convergent boundary.
It has a specific sub-type known as the Subduction Zone. In the Subduction Zone, causes the most powerful earthquakes because in this type of collision, when one plate collides with another, it goes right under the other submerging into the mantle. And when this happens, as you can see in the diagram, a deep cavity or hole is formed under the sea on the boundaries of the two plates, which is called a Trench.
These underwater trenches are often the deepest point in the ocean. They can be 3 to 4 kilometres deeper than the surrounding seabed. The deepest point on Earth in underwater known as the Mariana Trench. This trench is 10.9 kilometres deep. In Mariana Trench, the point Challenger Deep is the deepest point in any ocean and on Earth. You would have heard about it a lot.
But perhaps, you might not know that There is a deep trench in the East of Japan, known as the Japan Trench. The depth of this trench is 8.4 km. There are very few countries in the world that are located so close to such deep sea. Look at this map. This map shows you the depth of the sea in different parts of the world. The lighter the colour, the shallower the ocean. And the darker the colour, the deeper the ocean. Look around most of the countries. Indian coastlines, African coastlines, South American coastlines they are shown in a light colour.
But zoom in and look at Japan. On the right side of Japan, there is a massive dark area. This is the Japan Trench. And through it crosses, our imaginary Ring of Fire. The Pacific Ring of Fire. Due to the movement of the tectonic plate, such horrific earthquakes are caused, the sea is so deep here, most number of volcanoes are found here, and due to this, the area that gets the most number of tsunamis, is the country of Japan. Japan's coastline is very close to this trench, which means that the tsunami waves have to travel only a short distance and there isn't sufficient time for issue warning.
For this reason, Japan is at the highest risk from tsunamis. In fact, the word tsunami is derived from Japanese. Tsu-Nami is made up of Tsu and Nami. Tsu means harbour and Nami means wave, meaning harbour-wave. Harbour is also known as a seaport. Since there were so many tsunamis in Japan, when the news of the Japanese tsunamis spread all over the world, the word tsunami became popular and people started using it since then.
Approximately 90% of the world's earthquakes take place in this Pacific Ring of Fire. And approximately 75% of active volcanoes are also found here. Since the geography of this area is such, historically, Japan has always been in a danger zone. But perhaps this is why Japan has been at the forefront at controlling the damage caused by earthquakes and tsunamis.
What does Japan do exactly? Before talking about it, I'd like to tell you that if you want to learn more about Japan's history, there are amazing audiobooks on KUKU FM, such as this one talking about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is a 1.5 hour long audiobook, that tells you the story of the nuclear bombing of the two cities. Apart from this, there is an audiobook on Oppenheimer: The Father of The Atom Bomb. There are numerous audiobooks on KUKU FM across various topics.
Whether it is fiction, history, geography or politics. Overall, it is an amazing audio-learning platform where you can listen to books. In case you haven't already, do check it out, there's a link with a big discount in the description. And now let's get back to the topic. The buildings built in Japan have to meet strict earthquake-proof standards. There are three standards.
The lowest is the Taishin standard. The requirement mandates the minimum thickness of the pillars, walls, and beams of the buildings. So that if an earthquake shakes the building, the building can resist it. Second is the Seishin standard which is recommended for tall buildings where they are required to install dampers to absorb the earthquake's energy.
They need to put large, thick rubber mats under the foundation of the building. These rubber mats absorb the vibrations of earthquakes very well. But there is a third standard, which is even more strict, the most advanced standard, the Menshin Standard. In this, the entire structure of the building is isolated from the ground. Layers of lead, steel, and rubber are installed so that the building moves independently of the ground.
Even if the ground shakes, the building can remain stable. This iconic Skytree tower in Tokyo city, was built using the same standard. This is one of the most earthquake-resistant buildings in the city. When the horrific Tohoku earthquake hit Japan in 2011, the magnitude of that earthquake was 9.0. This building did not even get a scratch. On the other hand, Japan has adopted many strategies to protect itself against tsunamis, although they haven't been as successful as those protecting Japan against earthquakes.
They have built tsunami-controlled forests. Planting a large number of trees to stop the force of tsunamis. They have built coastal dikes, which look like this. These are long structures built of stones. These dikes are very expensive to build, but they can successfully reduce the impact of tsunamis. Apart from these, tsunami evacuation towers are built.
In areas with a high-risk of tsunami and a significant population, since people do not get a lot of time for evacuation, they are told to take shelter in these towers, located at a high point, to be protected from the tsunamis. They have improved their warning systems. Evacuation drills are regularly conducted, to help the locals understand what they need to do in case of a tsunami. And how to prepare for rescue operations.
And finally, they have built walls near the sea. Sea walls. Japan has a 22,000-mile-long coastline 40% of which is surrounded by these concrete sea walls. But, unfortunately, these walls are not always effective. As it happened in 2011. Watch this video. The earthquake that caused this tsunami was the most powerful earthquake in Japan's history.
This tsunami caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster too. Nuclear reactors were damaged, leading to radiation leaks that spread over the Pacific Ocean. The 2011 earthquake and tsunami was the most devastating in Japan's history. Around 20,000 people lost their lives in it. After this, their government made their standards stricter.
Thankfully, this year's disaster did not turn out to be as dangerous and fatal. If you found this video informative, click here to watch the video on Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The most dangerous nuclear disaster in the world. It is explained in this video. Thank you very much!