Natural disasters in Japan

Japan is the only one country most affected by natural disasters mainly due to it being in the Ring of Fire. Two out of the five most expensive natural disasters in recent history have occurred in Japan, in 1995 and 2011, costing $181 billion. Japan has also been the site of some of the 10 worst natural disasters of the 21st century. Many types of natural disasters occur in Japan such as tsunamis, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, cyclones, and even volcanic eruptions. The country has gone through thousands of years of natural disasters,[1] affecting its economy, development, and social life. Some other major disasters in Japan were more recent, such as the January 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Volcanic eruptions

Volcano at Sakura-jima

Many volcanic eruptions have taken place in Japan.

List of recent volcanic eruptions

Location	Last eruption
Mount Meakan, Hokkaido	2008
Mount Usu, Hokkaido	2001
Hokkaido Koma-ga-take, Hokkaido	2000
Mount Asama, Honshu	2009
Mount Hakkoda, Honshu	1997
Mount Niigatayake, Honshu	1998
Mount Yake, Honshu	1995
Oshima, Izu Islands	1990
Tori-shima, Izu Islands	2002
Miyake-jima, Izu Islands	2010
Mount Aso, Kyushu	2004
Mount Kuju, Kyushu	1996
Mount Sakura-jima, Kyushu	2012
Shinmoe-dake, Kyushu	2011
Mount Unzen, Kyushu	1996
Kikai Caldera, Ōsumi Islands	2004
Suwanose-jima, Ryukyu Islands	2012
Fukutoku-Okanoba, Bonin Islands	2010
Iwo Jima	1997
Mount Oyama, Miyake-jima	2005
Mount Ontake	2014

VEI-7 Volcanic eruptions

Mount Aso 4 pyroclastic flow and the spread of Aso 4 tephra. The pyroclastic flow reaches almost the whole area of Kyushu, and volcanic ash is deposited over 15 cm in a wide area from Kyushu to southern Hokkaido.

There are three VEI-7 volcanoes in Japan. These are the Aira Caldera, Kikai Caldera and Aso Caldera.

Mount Aso is the largest active volcano in Japan. Mount Aso had four eruptions 300,000 to 90,000 years ago. It emitted huge amounts of volcanic ash that covered all of Kyushu and up to Yamaguchi Prefecture.

VEI 7 eruptions have happened in the following locations of Japan.

Name	Zone	Location	Event / notes	Years ago before 1950 (Approx.)	Ejecta volume (Approx.)
Kikai Caldera		Japan, Ryukyu Islands	Akahoya eruption 5,300 BC	7,300[2]	170 km^3
Aira Caldera		Japan, Kyūshū	Aira-Tanzawa ash	30,000[2]	450 km^3
Aso Caldera		Japan, Kyūshū	Aso-4 pyroclastic flow	90,000	600 km^3
Mount Aso		Japan, Kyūshū	Four large eruptions between 300,000 and 90,000 years ago.	300,000	600 km^3

Earthquakes

Japan has had a long history of earthquake catastrophe and seismic activity. In the past twenty years, the most severe earthquake that occurred was the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Japan earthquake

After an earthquake

List of recent earthquakes in Japan

Main article: List of earthquakes in Japan

Location	Date	Estimated deaths
Hokkaido earthquake	1993, 12 July	202
Offshore Sanriku earthquake	1994, 28 December	3
Kobe earthquake	1995, 17 January	6,434
Ryukyu Islands earthquake	1998, 4 May	0
Geiyo earthquake	2001, 24 March	2
Hokkaido earthquake	2003, 25 September	1
Chuetsu earthquake	2004, 23 October	40
Fukuoka earthquake	2005, 20 March	1
Miyagi earthquake	2005, 16 August	0
Kuril Islands earthquake	2006, 15 November	0
Kuril Islands earthquake	2007, 13 January	0
Noto earthquake	2007, 25 March	1
Chuetsu Offshore earthquake	2007, 16 July	11
Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake	2008, 14 June	12
Izu Islands earthquake	2009, 9 August	0
Shizuoka earthquake	2009, 11 August	1
Ryukyu Islands earthquake	2010, 26 February	1
Bonin Islands earthquake	2010, 21 December	0
Tohoku earthquake	2011, 11 March	15,881
Miyagi earthquake aftershock	2011, 7 April	4
Fukushima earthquake	2011, 11 April	6
Fukushima earthquake aftershock	2011, 10 July	0
Izu Islands earthquake	2012, 1 January	0
Kamaishi earthquake	2012, 7 December	3
Chiba earthquake	2012, 14 March	1

Mudslides

A mudslide, or mudflow, occurs when rocks, sand, and earth are loosened and fall from hills and mountains due to earthquake, rain or snow. In Japan, over two-thirds of the land is mountainous and therefore prone to mudslides.[3]

Major mudslide events

Japan has experienced several major mudslide events, often due to other natural disasters.

Mount Ontake

On September 14, 1984, the Otaki earthquake (magnitude 6.8) in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, caused a major mudslide on the south face of Mount Ontake, which reached speeds of 80~100 km/h.[4] Heavy rain over several days prior to the quake contributed to causing the mudslide, known as “Ontake Kuzure,” which took the lives of 29 people. After the disaster, barriers against mudslide were erected in nine locations at the foot of Mt. Ontake.[5]

Wakayama & Nara

In September 2011, Tropical Storm Talas (2011), which formed and was named on August 25, made landfall over Japan, bringing heavy rain to the mountainous Kii Peninsula, and causing a mudslide, called “Shinsohokai,” in Wakayama and Nara. "Shinsohokai" means that not only soil collapses, but also bedrock. In this case, houses were covered with earth and sand from the mudslide and there were many injured and killed.[6]

Hiroshima

In June 2010, Hiroshima experienced heavy rains which caused severe damage, including mudslides and river floods; Shōbara had 64 mm rain in an hour and Hiroshima had 30–50 mm on June 12, 20-40mm on the 13th and 20-50mm on the 14th. Five people were killed and six injured; 1,787 houses were destroyed.[7]

See also

• List of disasters in Japan by death toll

References

1. "Significant Earthquake: JAPAN". National Geophysical Data Center, part of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on January 26, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
2. Smith; et al. (2013). "Identification and correlation of visible tephras in the Lake Suigetsu SG06 sedimentary archive, Japan: chronostratigraphic markers for synchronising of east Asian/west Pacific palaeoclimatic records across the last 150 ka". Quaternary Science Reviews. 67: 121–137. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.01.026.
3. "Japan Institute of Country-ology and Engineering". www.jice.or.jp. JICE. 2007. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
4. "Naganoken Seibu Jishin (The earthquake which hit Nagano prefecture)". www.jma-net.go.jp. Matsuhiro Seismological Observatory. Archived from the original on 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
5. "Naganoken Seibu Jishin (The earthquake which hit Nagano prefecture)". Sabo Gakkaishi. 48 (4): 66–68. 1995. doi:10.11475/sabo1973.48.4_66.
6. "Kii Peninsula mudslide flooding". www.asahi.com. Asahi Sinbun DIGITAL. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
7. "Hiroshima Crisis-Management Department Crisis-Management Division". BOUSAI. Retrieved 2015-05-25.

External links

• Recent natural disasters in Japan-日本では最近の自然災害