Human-Environmental Interaction - Activity 3.

Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami in 2011

*** If you have not gone through the preparation of this topic yet, please click here. ***

*** The red circle(s) on the screen shots indicate the location of the tool or button you must use. ***

1. There was a catastrophic magnitude 9 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, Japan, on March 11th,

2011, followed by 1,235 aftershocks. The earthquake triggered tsunami waves of up to 133 ft. in height. This

disaster claimed 15,756 lives and injured many more. The earthquake and tsunami also caused nuclear accidents

at a major electrical generating station north of Tokyo. Radioactivity from these nuclear reactors may cause

ongoing damage. In this activity, we will mark the epicenter of the earthquake, and then mark four nuclear

power plants that were automatically shut down due to the earthquake. Next, we will observe tsunami waves

over time. Lastly, within the evacuation zone around the reactors (20km = 12mi), we will estimate how many

people might have been exposed to the radioactivity from the damaged reactor and how many more may be

exposed due to the flow of prevailing wind.

2. Click this link.

This is the prepared map for this activity. Once the map is loaded, save this map in your Esri account using

“Save.”

3. We will mark the epicenter of the earthquake first. The latitude and longitude of the epicenter is 38°19'19N,

142°22'8E. Copy and paste the coordinates in the “Find Places” box, and hit the enter key. You might see the

message “Map data not yet available” because there is no detailed map data at this scale. Therefore, we need to

zoom out until we can see the map. Once you mouse-over the bottom-left corner, you will see the navigator. If

your mouse has a wheel, you can use the wheel to zoom in (scrolling up) and out (scrolling down).

4. Zoom out from the map until you can see the location of the epicenter of the Japan earthquake.

5. Click the “+” sign, and then choose “Map Notes.”

6. Now you can see a green point symbol.

7. Click the point symbol, and then choose “Edit.” Then click “Edit Pop-up.”

8. Change the title, and add description. You can add a related image and website. Once you are done, click

“OK.” If you do not know how to find the URL of an image, please click here.

9. You can also change the symbol. To do this, click the point symbol again, and then choose “Edit.” Then click

“Change Symbol.”

(Image source: By Pekachu [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

10. You can choose a category that you want to use by clicking a drop-down menu “Basic.” Choose the most

appropriate symbol in the category. You can also change the symbol size. If you choose a basic shape such as a

circle and rectangle, you can change its background and outline colors.

11. Now we will mark four nuclear power plants that were automatically shut down due to the earthquake. The

following table includes the latitude and longitude for each nuclear power plant. Follow the previous steps from

#3 to #10 to mark them. Use the same symbols with the same color for them except “Fukushima I Nuclear

Power Plant” because it is the one leaking radiation. Make sure symbols for nuclear power plants are different

from the epicenter symbol to make them easily distinguishable.

Name Lat/Long Additional Information

Fukushima I Nuclear Power

Plant 37°25'23N, 141°1'59E

Automatically shut down

Three large explosions and radioactive

leakage

Fukushima II Nuclear Power

Plant 37°18'59N, 141°1'32E Automatically shutdown

Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant 38°24'4N, 141°29'59E Automatically shutdown

Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant 36°27'59N,

140°36'24E Automatically shutdown

12. Your map may look like the following. Now we will observe the tsunami wave over time. Click “Layers.”

13. Check the box for Tsunami wave. This layer is from Esri.

14. You will see “Time Navigator” on the right-bottom corner. The interval is 3 hours. Zoom out from the map

to see the entire Tsunami wave. If you want to see it repeatedly, check the box for “Loop playback.” When you

are ready, click the play button.

15. Uncheck the box for Tsunami wave, and check the boxes for Evacuation zone (20km) and Population

layers. Then click the details of Evacuation zone (20km) layer. The Population layer is from (c)Esri Japan.

16. Click the “Zoom To” button, and then click the “Map Legend” button.

17. “Map Legend” shows the population in each nearby administrative district. Where is the population

concentrated around the power stations? Is this area urban or rural?

18. One of the main concerns of radioactive contamination is that it can move and spread to other locations by

air and water. In this case, the contamination has been and continuous to be spread mostly by wind. At this

latitude (the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant is 37°25'23N) in the northern hemisphere, westerlies are

dominant. These are winds that blow from the west to the east. Use the linked image to show directions of

prevailing winds in the world. Click this link to see the image.

Discussion questions

o How many hours/days did it take for the tsunami wave to spread across the Pacific Ocean to

North and South America?

o Describe the population pattern in the evacuation zone.

o Explain how human beings might be affected by this disaster.

o Besides human beings, what other living things might be harmed by this disaster?

o Predict where radioactive contamination may increase?

Additional sources

o Japan Earthquake and Tsunami maps (Esri)

o Real-time Japan’s radiation map