Lecture 1
earthquake (eq) definition = both sudden slip on a fault and the resulting ground shaking and
radiated seismic energy caused by a slip or by a volcanic or magnetic activity or other
sudden stress changes in the earth
→ TECTONIC PLATE THEORY = tectonic plates moving slowly relative to each other and
they always get in contact → earthquakes = sudden movement along faults within the Earth
Three types of plate boundaries
- Convergent = subduction
- Divergent = spreading
- Transform = lateral sliding
Japan was strike by several eq, people believe these are made by a catfish (their beliefs,
history, legends) - catfish moves
plates in the pacific - they move faster; pacific plate (explanation of the eq and volcanoes in
the pacific plate; most eq here)
Japan
- 4 different plates
Seismic waves (4 types)
→ different speed
→ body waves vs surface waves
1. p-waves (body)
→ first ones
→ quick
2. s-waves (body)
→ slow to arrive
→ more destructive
3. love waves (surface)
→ travel orthogonally with the direction of propagation
4. rayleigh waves (surface)
→ propagate near the Earth’s surface as ripples
→ cause a rotation
Mercalli scale
• oldest ones
• measure the effects on the buildings
• about observable earthquake damage
,Richter scale
• about the magnitude (the size of the earthquake)
• the problem is that it was designed for california and it doesn’t go very high, designed
for small earthquakes
→ magnitude (size) is determined using the logarithm of the amplitude (height) of the largest
seismic wave calibrated to a scale by a seismograph
Moment magnitude scale
• moment = rigidity x area of fault surface x fault of displacement
→ related to the total energy released in the earthquake
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) seismic intensity scale
• measured in shindo
→ ground-surface shaking takes place at measurement sites distributed throughout an
affected area
Why Japan? Why disasters in japan
→ bad position
→ 80% of eqs are in japan
- more than 6,5 every year
• How do they cope with disasters?
1. early warning system
- japan eq early warning system
- japan tsunami warning system
2. building codes
- amendment to the building standards law (1981)
3. disaster education
- disaster prevention day (sept 1)
- augmented reality to teach children; VR (technology!!)
4. tsunami signs
Tsunami tendenko
• people should run without taking care of others
• personal responsibility
• might increase the chance of survival
• trust in people
• not egoistic
History
- Great janto earthquake was a very huge earthquake
• 7,9 magnitude
- the great hanshan (name in the slides)
• 6,9 magnitude
• death toll - 6 000
- showa great sanriku tsunami (1933)
• 8,4 magnitude
• mitigation measures
- typhoon hagibis (typhoon, 2019)
, - tokyo sarin attack
• yoga class => cult
• terrorist attack
What happened with the nuclear power plant PLUS events timeline
• no electricity at the plant
→ need electricity to keep something cold, to control the temperature
→ 3:27 (the wave) 3:37 (when the wave reached the nuclear plant) - tsunami
- 2:49 tsunami warning
- from 3,5 to 12 m
- 40m run up
- 700 km/h
→ the alert underestimate the waves and the eq
- 3:37 hydrogen explosion
→ before that, everything was under control (unit 1, then unit 3, then unit 4)
- 8:50 pm evacuation
- Late evening; didn't have time to get their belongings
- 470 000 displaced people
→ it was a level 7 event (earthquake plus tsunami)
Crisis response
• the first 24h were critical
- state of emergency declared
- local gov response systems activated
• three main actors
- tepco
- japan gov
- at the NPP
→ japanese self-defence force
- critical role
- humanitarian relief!! from several countries
- 163 countries and 43 international org
- US was the main actor; sent a lot of troops; biggest help
→ Volunteers
The critics
→ Early warning
o People thought that the system was very advance
o The first estimation was 7,9
o Consequences in ppl reactions
o Estimated 3m tsunami wave, underestimated
→ Not a natural disaster
o But errors in planning and response economic benefits more than safety
→ responsibility of tepco (SAFETY MYTH)
• Disaster definition on the slide
• See the photo
• TEPCO was unable to make prompt organisational decisions and wound up losing
gov’s trust with regarded to information sharing and decision making
earthquake (eq) definition = both sudden slip on a fault and the resulting ground shaking and
radiated seismic energy caused by a slip or by a volcanic or magnetic activity or other
sudden stress changes in the earth
→ TECTONIC PLATE THEORY = tectonic plates moving slowly relative to each other and
they always get in contact → earthquakes = sudden movement along faults within the Earth
Three types of plate boundaries
- Convergent = subduction
- Divergent = spreading
- Transform = lateral sliding
Japan was strike by several eq, people believe these are made by a catfish (their beliefs,
history, legends) - catfish moves
plates in the pacific - they move faster; pacific plate (explanation of the eq and volcanoes in
the pacific plate; most eq here)
Japan
- 4 different plates
Seismic waves (4 types)
→ different speed
→ body waves vs surface waves
1. p-waves (body)
→ first ones
→ quick
2. s-waves (body)
→ slow to arrive
→ more destructive
3. love waves (surface)
→ travel orthogonally with the direction of propagation
4. rayleigh waves (surface)
→ propagate near the Earth’s surface as ripples
→ cause a rotation
Mercalli scale
• oldest ones
• measure the effects on the buildings
• about observable earthquake damage
,Richter scale
• about the magnitude (the size of the earthquake)
• the problem is that it was designed for california and it doesn’t go very high, designed
for small earthquakes
→ magnitude (size) is determined using the logarithm of the amplitude (height) of the largest
seismic wave calibrated to a scale by a seismograph
Moment magnitude scale
• moment = rigidity x area of fault surface x fault of displacement
→ related to the total energy released in the earthquake
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) seismic intensity scale
• measured in shindo
→ ground-surface shaking takes place at measurement sites distributed throughout an
affected area
Why Japan? Why disasters in japan
→ bad position
→ 80% of eqs are in japan
- more than 6,5 every year
• How do they cope with disasters?
1. early warning system
- japan eq early warning system
- japan tsunami warning system
2. building codes
- amendment to the building standards law (1981)
3. disaster education
- disaster prevention day (sept 1)
- augmented reality to teach children; VR (technology!!)
4. tsunami signs
Tsunami tendenko
• people should run without taking care of others
• personal responsibility
• might increase the chance of survival
• trust in people
• not egoistic
History
- Great janto earthquake was a very huge earthquake
• 7,9 magnitude
- the great hanshan (name in the slides)
• 6,9 magnitude
• death toll - 6 000
- showa great sanriku tsunami (1933)
• 8,4 magnitude
• mitigation measures
- typhoon hagibis (typhoon, 2019)
, - tokyo sarin attack
• yoga class => cult
• terrorist attack
What happened with the nuclear power plant PLUS events timeline
• no electricity at the plant
→ need electricity to keep something cold, to control the temperature
→ 3:27 (the wave) 3:37 (when the wave reached the nuclear plant) - tsunami
- 2:49 tsunami warning
- from 3,5 to 12 m
- 40m run up
- 700 km/h
→ the alert underestimate the waves and the eq
- 3:37 hydrogen explosion
→ before that, everything was under control (unit 1, then unit 3, then unit 4)
- 8:50 pm evacuation
- Late evening; didn't have time to get their belongings
- 470 000 displaced people
→ it was a level 7 event (earthquake plus tsunami)
Crisis response
• the first 24h were critical
- state of emergency declared
- local gov response systems activated
• three main actors
- tepco
- japan gov
- at the NPP
→ japanese self-defence force
- critical role
- humanitarian relief!! from several countries
- 163 countries and 43 international org
- US was the main actor; sent a lot of troops; biggest help
→ Volunteers
The critics
→ Early warning
o People thought that the system was very advance
o The first estimation was 7,9
o Consequences in ppl reactions
o Estimated 3m tsunami wave, underestimated
→ Not a natural disaster
o But errors in planning and response economic benefits more than safety
→ responsibility of tepco (SAFETY MYTH)
• Disaster definition on the slide
• See the photo
• TEPCO was unable to make prompt organisational decisions and wound up losing
gov’s trust with regarded to information sharing and decision making
