Whatever happens on this planet or in space has its consequences, it either creates or destroys. The main factor for such instances is energy. Everything that has been created, sustained, or has been destroyed is just because of energy. The important thing here is that energy should be released, just like all the living creatures release their energy so that they can advance in their activities. The same goes with mother earth.
Our green-blue planet releases energy in the form of tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Mankind is bestowed with a supreme element called nature, but just like a coin, everything has two sides. Nature has always been a controversial topic ever since the living creatures have sustained on earth. From the extinction of dinosaurs to the latest news of natural disasters. One of the most remarkable disasters of the decade is the Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011. The 2011 Tohoku earthquake struck offshore of Japan, along a subduction zone where two of Earth’s tectonic plates collided. In a subduction zone, one plate slides beneath another into the mantle, the hotter layer beneath the crust. The great plates are rough and stick together, building up energy that is released as earthquakes. East of Japan, the Pacific plate dives beneath the overriding Eurasian plate. The temblor completely released centuries of built-up stress between the two tectonic plates. March 11 earthquake started on a Friday at 2:46 p.m. JST. It was centered on the seafloor 45 miles east of Tohoku, at a depth of 24 km below the surface. The shaking lasted about six minutes.
Residents of Tokyo received a minute of warning before the strong shaking hit the city, thanks to Japan’s earthquake early warning system. The country’s strict seismic building codes and early warning system prevented many deaths from the earthquake, by stopping high-speed trains and factory assembly lines. People in Japan also received text alerts of the earthquake and tsunami warnings on their cellphones. Though prior warning was given in all possible ways, it still led to more deaths than estimated. The number of confirmed deaths is 15,894 as of June 10, 2016, according to the reconstruction agency. More than 2,500 people are still reported missing. Less than an hour after the earthquake, the first of many tsunami waves hit Japan’s coastline. The tsunami waves reached heights up to 128 feet at Miyako city and traveled inland as far as 10 km in Sendai. The tsunami flooded an estimated area of approximately 561 square kilometers in Japan. The waves overtopped and destroyed protective tsunami sea walls at several locations. The massive surge destroyed three-story buildings where people had gathered for safety. Near Oarai, the tsunami generated a huge whirlpool offshore.
Another peril that occurred that day was, the tsunami caused a cooling system failure at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which resulted in a level-7 nuclear meltdown and release of radioactive materials. The electrical power and backup generators were destroyed by the tsunami, and the plant lost its cooling capabilities. Very low levels of radioactive chemicals that leaked from Fukushima have been detected along the North American coast offshore Canada and California. The tsunami was so massive that it even had worldwide effects. The tsunami waves traveled across the Pacific, reaching Alaska, Hawaii, and Chile. In Chile, some 17,000 km distant, the tsunami was 6.6 feet high when they reached the shore. The Pacific Plate slid westward near the epicenter by 79 feet (24 m). In conclusion to it, the disasters brought out many changes geographically to alertness in humans, this moreover changed the structure as well as the attitude of people towards natural disasters.