11 June 2011
The earthquake and I
The Earthquake Country
Earthquake is immediate disaster for Japanese people, I think. I heard that earthquake hits anywhere in the world 1,500,00 times in each year (average). And about 10% of these earthquakes occurs around Japan.
The earthquakes which are larger than M 5.0 occurs 1,500 times anywhere in the world in each year (average), and about 20% of these earthquakes occurs around Japan. Now you can imagine that we the Japanese experience many earthquakes in our daily lives.
The map below shows how many active faults and where these are. Active faults are one of the main source of earthquake.
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| (Map from Google, data from AIST) |
Not only the active faults, but trenches and troughs are also important to know more about earthquakes.
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| (Map from Google) |
The map above is maps around Japan with troughs and trenches. (I wrote lines on maps so, it's not so accurate).
So, there are many reasons that earthquakes occurs around Japan so much.
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| (Map and data from ADEP: 1st Jan., 2011 to 1st June, 2011. Figure shows earthquakes which marked as between magnitude 3.0 and magnitude 9.0.) |
The map above it shows how many earthquakes hit Japan in this year, and how strong they were. Well, there are more than 3,000 times of earthquakes had been recorded in half of this year.
I showed some data about earthquakes, but I'm not expert of earthquake. Please tell me when you find some problems.
The 3.11
Today is the exactly 3 months after the earthquake.
According to Metropolitan police department, 15,405 people were killed by the earthquake/tsunami, and 8,095 people are still missing. (as of 10th June.) About 90,000 people are still staying in evacuation centres. It seems like TV stations lost their interest to these people, now they are broadcasting only about nuclear power plants, political issues and Korean artists.
The energy shortage
Tokyo Electric Co.,(TEPCO) are providing their electrical energy to Kanto region. About 30% of their energy source was nuclear power plants. Now we are facing energy shortage because several nuclear power plants have been stopped due to earthquakes/tsunami and irresponsible fears to nuclear power plants.
Well, I don't understand that Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered Chubu Electric Co., to stop their nuclear power plants. He ordered to stop it because another major earthquake is expected. He ordered to take enough measures for Tsunami and earthquakes. Then why did he ordered only to this nuclear power plant? There are about 50 nuclear power plants in Japan, and I think they all have risks of earthquake.
In fact, the earthquake in Tohoku was not expected as such a large one. I think, his action was totally non-sense and he made the energy shortage worse.
Here's one example, governor of Fukui prefecture ordered to Japanese government to strict safe measurement for nuclear power plants. And they denies to restart some nuclear power plants in Fukui until these plants will pass the new safe measurement. In Fukui prefecture, there are 15 reactors and 6 of them are stopping due to periodic inspections. Another 2 reactors will be in the periodic inspections in next month.
If the governor denyies to restart these reactors, we'll lost major energy source. Most of reactors in Fukui prefecture are providing for Kansai Electric Co.,. Kansai Electric Co., is providing electric energy for Kansai region (such as Osaka and Kyoto). And they are depending on nuclear energy almost 50%.
Some companies shifted their business to Kansai region due to energy shortage in Tokyo. So if the energy shortage effect to Kansai region, Japanese economy might destroy. I hope the governor will make right decision.
The earthquake and I
I felt, we almost back to our usual lives. But I don't recommend to visit Tokyo as tourist. Look at the photo below.
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| Darkish train due to energy saving |
The train is a little dark because train operators decided to turn off light in day-time on sunny days. Sometimes, they are turning off air-conditioner even on hot day. Well, it's really uncomfortable. I don't want to ride such a train.
Also the night, most of street lamps are turning off. Well, it's bit dark. Some shops close a little earlier. Then I cannot buy some stuff after I finish my job. Most inconvenience one is ATM. Banks decided to close some of their ATMs at evening. Well, I cannot withdraw my money from my accounts after I finish my job.
Maybe most of buildings will stop to use air conditioner even on hot day. And it might increase the number of heat stroke. I hope this will not happen. We should think about energy saving much more. Just turn off light, air conditioner, and etc is not the only way to saving energy.
Thank you.
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