Welcome to my blog post week three.
This week we studies semismicity, which is how frequently an earthquakes happen in a region.
Once again my country I am writing about is japan which has a high semisicity because of its location under the meeting point of four plates. Today September 9th 2015 there has been three earthquakes over 4.0 in Japan. In the last twenty years there have been twenty five significant earthquakes over 6.0. Yet only two have had death tolls over one thousand the first is January 17, 1995 with a death told of 6,434 and the second was March 11, 2011, which cause a tsunami and took the life of 15,891.
With all this activity japan needed to make some changes to lesson the damage. According to Japanecho.net "Japan’s earthquake resistance standards for buildings have been adopted and revised several times over the years in the aftermath of a major earthquake. Particularly important were the revisions made in the New Building Standards Act enacted in 1981, introducing new earthquake resistance standards. In 1978.The new regulations made it a legal requirement for all new houses, apartment buildings, and high-rise buildings to be designed to sustain only slight cracks in the event of an intermediate-scale earthquake ... and to not collapse even in the event of a major earthquake...In December 1995, the Law for Promotion of Seismic Retrofit of Buildings was passed. ... regular inspections have been carried out and improvements made to the earthquake resistance features of buildings that did not meet the requirements of the 1981 standards.... These measures have been further enhanced by the Japan Building Disaster Prevention Association, which guarantees liabilities and provides information on earthquake preparedness, and through the introduction of a system of tax deductions for improvement work on buildings to make them more resistant to earthquakes."(Japan's). In addtion to structural advances they have also created an earthquake alert system, that is in theory able to help warn them to take cover.
"Earthquakes." Earthquakes. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2015. <http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/>.
"Earthquakes in Japan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes_in_Japan>.
"Japan's Disaster Prevention System." Japan's Disaster Prevention System. Nippon Communications Foundation, 06 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2015. <http://www.japanecho.net/311-data/1306/>.
"List of Earthquakes in Japan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Japan>.
Yes, your country is probably the best of the world in quake preparedness...and still, in 2011 the tsunami barriers were too short for the catastrophe...but we'll discuss that next week.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, the buildings ARE prepared for a lot of shaking...the islands has only so much real state and they tend to build upward...
A quick comment, could you edit this post so it can be read better?-thank you-
ReplyDelete25 significant earthquakes over 6.0 in the past 20 years? That is insane! I never realized the seismicity of Japan! I'm glad to hear their earthquake preparedness is quite under control. Living in a country with so many earthquakes, I'm sure the preparedness gives the citizens somewhat peace of mind. The earthquake alert system should come very in handy for Japan! It's neat that you included the earthquake fact of the day you posted this.
ReplyDeleteHi Gracie! Like most people, I was aware of Japan's large earthquake in 2011. I was unaware how often significant earthquakes happened there. It is good to know they are earthquake ready and stay prepared. My country, Jamaica, has had a few massive earthquakes. They are not prepared to large quakes despite previous ones.
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