The Natural Disasters in Japan - Term Paper Example

Natural Hazard in Japan Introduction Japan is located in the circum pacific mobile zones where volcanic and seismic activities constantly occur. The number of earthquake (natural hazard) and active distribution of volcanoes is quite extremely high and frequently prominent in the country. Japan only covers 0.25% of the total land area in the planet earth. Also, because of the topographical, meteorological and geographic conditions of the country depending on its location of existence it is highly subjected to many natural disasters. The natural disasters are always extremely catastrophic and hazardous. Natural hazards or disasters that Japan is frequently subjected to experience include volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, heavy torrential rains, typhoons, and heavy snow (Kingston, 2012 pg. 216). Every year in Japan, there are great loses of peoples’ lives and property due to natural hazards. Until 1950s numerous large scale typhoons and earthquakes caused thousands of casualties and extensive damages. However, though the causes of disaster are natural and cannot be within anyone’s control, the disasters damage have been shown to be on a tendency which is declining even if the natural disasters are still occurring. Data analysis Japan and its economy have been through series of naturally hazardous occurrences. The Japan economy, according to the statistical economy figures released in 2011, shrank by 3.7% in the first period of 2011. Such an economic shrinking tipped the country in to a recession. The economic crisis also disrupted the Japan’s political life. This was illustrated by incidence of Mr. Kan starving being starved off through a vote of no confidence. The action gave a deep insight of division between the government of Mr. Kan and the alliance of bureaucrats that has dominated the public life of Japan for decade (Kingston, 2012 pg. 254). There are overwhelming human and economic losses due the natural hazard that are experienced by Japan. Japan was estimated to have lost 5% of stock in the capital as a result of disasters and hazards. After initially playing economic impact down as a result of the March 2011 earthquake, there was an announcement by the government that Japan had officially fallen into recession following the tsunami and the soon followed nuclear disaster. The GDP of the country fell by 0.9% in the quarter of January to March and 3.7% annualized retreat. Insurance companies in the economy have been hit hard. This is because more than 400000 claims on damages of properties were made while many survivors say that they had no insurance policy that could have covered them from the effects of tsunamis and earthquakes (Kingston, 2012 pg. 278). The whole northeastern fishing industry which used to provide 25% of the Japan’s seafood was entirely wiped out. Homes, ships and cars as well as other debris are continuing to clog the harbors thereby making shipping difficult. The Japanese exports have also reduced as a result of natural hazards. The second biggest component of the world largest economy is composed of trading component. Exports of Japan are made up of 13.5% and the imports are at 12.7% of the 2009 GDP. The massive earthquakes of devastated the exports to extreme proportions and there was a rise in import costs due to high prices of commodity. The export of Japan fell hugely for the first time in 16 months in the month of March. This was due to being hit by massive tsunami and earthquake leading to the destruction of and damage of ports. Auto exports especially Toyota and Honda Companies took a twin beating as they were forced to suspend all their Japanese productions due to components of shortage (Kingston, 2012 pg. 289). Discussion Japan has been both in history and presently subjected to numerous natural hazard disasters. The variety types of natural disasters causes that have been of huge prevalence and occurrence in Japan are as discussed below. Earthquake is a form of natural disaster that has hugely stricken Japan. Earthquake is among the top-most dangerous and destructive forms of natural hazards. They strike suddenly with a massive impact and little or even no warning. Earthquake occurs at any time in the day or night of the year. An earthquake devastates an entire an entire region where it occurs. They are huge in magnitude and strength and have the potential to reduce buildings into a pile of rubble within seconds. They also kill and injure the regions’ of their occurrences inhabitants (Kingston, 2012 pg. 227). Earthquakes are caused by massive land masses, called plates, movements on the crust of the earth. The movements of the plates often cover larger areas of and since the plates are ever in a constant state of motion. As the plates move in relation to one another, stresses are formed and are consequently accumulated until an abrupt fracture slippage occurs. The sudden release of stress by earth crust plates is what is called earthquake. Earthquake has been proven to be prone in occurring at areas which are seismically active and mostly are at the pacific basin and forms a belt. Japan experiences a lot of earthquakes because its geographical and seismic nature and conditions tend to promote the factors favoring earthquakes occurrence. Earthquake causes the primary effects of violent movement of the ground and liquefaction. Liquefaction is the process where loose sandy soils which have a high content of moisture get separated when shaken by earthquake forces. The secondary effects of the earthquake include landslides, tsunamis, floods and fires. Landslides are especially of massive damage and frequently accounts for severe effects of earthquake such as loss of lives. Tsunamis are the large sea waves which abruptly move the floor of the ocean and are caused by earthquake. The effects of fire do arise from earthquake an occurrence due to the electrical lines that get to be broken during and after the occurrence. Finally, there is subsoil disturbance by an earthquake occurrence due to the changes in groundwater course of flow. This can result abrupt level changes in the water table and therefore leading to sudden drying up of springs (Kingston, 2012 pg. 231). Volcanic eruption is another cause of natural hazards in Japan. Volcanic eruptions are always disruptive and severe processes which blow away large amount of lava and cones onto the earth’s surface through the volcano vent. The process of eruptions can be hazardous since during the eruption process magma forcefully pushed out form the earth’s mantle. The magma is always in a hot molten state and therefore do adversely burn any form of the object at where the magma gets deposited. During the process of magma ejection from the, a friction and stress is always caused on the earths’ crust component. Such friction may cause sudden shaking of the land mass causing occurrences of either landslide or even earthquake in some cases. The effect of volcanic eruption is that the on and close of the volcanoes falling particles which are bomb like that may break tree branches, kill animals and people, crash the roof s and walls of building and start fire. Flooding is also another cause of natural hazard in Japan. Devastating floods from heavy rainfall are usually accompany tropical cyclones. The damages caused by flooding increases where they cause mudslides that either undercut or cover roads, and erode agriculturally productive soil. This effect contributes to long-term environmental degradation. The natural hazard in Japan cannot be fully and extensively discussed without providing an explanation for the effects and impacts of the natural hazards. Natural hazards have extreme effects on the economic environment, physical environment and human beings. Contraction of the Japan’s economy has been caused by the series of naturally hazardous occurrences. There is an effect of natural hazard on Japanese transnational companies and the external foreign direct investment. After the devastating earthquake of 2011 march, the northern regions of Japan that were badly affected were the homes to niche-hi-tech companies. These are the major producers of components which are specialized such as Renasas Electronics. The earthquake led to the interruption of power resulting to severe supply chain disruption. Despite the occurrences of the natural hazards in Japan, there have been a variety of numerous measures that have put and set in place in order to help minimize their effects. There is the establishment of disaster prevention and preparedness methods. These methods are being accomplished by the National Land Conservation of Japan. The national land conservation implements projects such as improvements of rivers and control of soil erosion. Earthquake disaster countermeasures have been established to help in reducing the natural hazards effects. In order to monitor the seismic activity constantly, the Japan Meteorological Agency install and maintain seismometers that is used to estimate the epicenter location and the magnitude of any likely earthquake. As soon as any earthquake occurs in Japan the JMA analyzes the data from the respective seismometers of the areas affected (Kingston, 2012 pg. 296). The countermeasures also entail responsibilities definition for disaster management, establishment of disaster management planning system. Also measures established are the prevention and preparedness measures, disaster response to emergency, disaster rehabilitation and recovery, financial measures. Some other measures are also such as the establishment of state disaster emergency department, disaster management organizations, and disaster planning system of management. Definition for disaster management as a measure of reducing the natural hazard effects in Japan provides that, there should be formulation and implementation promotion of the basic management plans of disasters and the operations. The disaster management planning system entails the local disaster plan of management implementation. The disaster management system is facilitated by Cabinet’s Office mission along with a series of central government reforms. The measure of disaster prevention and preparedness is facilitated and implemented through the projects of National Land Conservation in Japan. The projects carry out strategic protections of citizens’ lives, national land, and the properties in Japan form various hazards that may occur. The measure facilitates the processes of observing, forecasting and providing warnings on the risks of disasters and their probable likely areas of occurring. The measure of developing disaster management bases entails securing wider collaboration areas to achieve smooth and quick rehabilitation activities for efficient recovery from a disaster which has occurred. Also, the countermeasure to reduce the effects of hazards that involves issuing of evacuation orders and instruction is carried out when the hazard is imminent. Here the residents may start to evacuate on their or may be forced to evacuate by the relevant authorities of the government. Conclusion The number of natural hazard and disasters around the world most particularly in Japan is steadily and gradually increasing. Hazards and disasters remain to be a major drawback factor to sustainable development. Therefore, reducing the vulnerabilities to hazards and the damages caused by them remain to be paramount and is an inevitable challenge to all the international communities, as illustrated in the discussion section above. Every year disasters are not only experienced in Japan alone but are experienced by the over 160 million all over the world in entirety. Approximately 100, 000 people are killed yearly by disasters as well and the resultant damages are estimated at a value of $33 billion. Compared to the disasters’ amount and frequency in 1970s, the current numbers of people from the years 1995 to 2014 who are being affected by the disasters have almost tripled. Disasters and hazards have the nature of being particular, that is, there occurrence is not within human control. Nevertheless, the point of concentration should be vested upon how to prevent its occurrence and how to reduce or eliminate its negative impact to people, environment, economy and other related variables. This explains that to some huge extent, we may not have much control over the occurrence incidences of hazards but we can rather put measures in place to deal and respond to their occurrences. Works cited Kingston, Jeff. Natural Disaster and Nuclear Crisis in Japan: Response and Recovery After Japans 3/11. London: Routledge, 2012. Print. Read More