Environmental managementName: Tran Thi Thuy DuongClass: GMA 02Tsunami in Japan in 2011Environmental problems are the hottest issues in our contemporary life. It is obvious that, climate change leads to more disasters with more serious level and hard to predict. One of the most serious disasters that have aroused public concern is tsunami in Japan in 2011. According to Patrick Fuller, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and who was there in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, tells of the "complete and utter devastation": "The only way I can describe how it was is that it was just like out of the Terminator movie - a futuristic scene of mangled and twisted wreckage."1 The height of Tsunamis waves was up to approximately 39 meters at Miyako city. It expanded 561 square kilometers in Japan. The waves were high and strong enough to destroy protective tsunami seawalls at many locations. 2

Figure 1: source http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-japan-tsunami-before-after-slider-htmlstory.htmlIn fact, there are two major justifications that lead to this tsunami. It should be first noted that earthquake usually create tsunami as the natural consequence. According to scientists, when earthquake happens it could make fluctuation of the seabed. As the result, surfaced water also be affected then creating a high water column touching the coastline. That is usual process for tsunami appearance. Nevertheless, there was still one more reason that made this tsunami become stronger and different compared the others. It originates from natural Japans features. In fact, there are numerous small rocks located on the seabed. They gather together to form several unstable columns. When earthquake happened the columns were collapsed and threw away because of the force of gravity. This power combined with potential energy creating such a huge tsunami in Japan.3 This disaster did create many serious consequences because of its level and not early warning such as human deaths, environmental pollution, money of Japanese government and even leading to another terrible disaster. It should be first noted that, The Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami that tore through the country's north-eastern coastal communities killed almost 16,000 people and destroyed the lives of thousands more. According to BBC news, there were approximately 3 thousand missing citizens no matter how hard people tried to search for them. In addition, tsunami destroyed infrastructure and thousands of houses. As the figure of National police agency of Japan, there were nearly 3000 building destroyed and 4000 roads, 78 bright and 29 railways affected badly. That is the major justification why over 330 thousand Japanese citizens became homeless and must live in some temporary accommodations. According to statistic, Japanese government had to spend 16.9 trillion yen to recover the damages and this figure may increase.4 On the other hand, 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. About 300 tons of radioactive water continues to leak from the plant every day into the Pacific Ocean, affecting fish and other marine life.5 Those are some sources leading to diseases in Human and animals. It is really dangerous. In order to address those problems Japanese government had to invest huge amount of money on it. Nevertheless Japan was still suffered a lot after disaster. There were several actions that Japanese did in order to not only to recover but also to avoid disaster in the future. First of all, the new and advance tsunami system was installed to work more efficiently. Furthermore the authorities also helped citizens understand more about the danger of natural disasters because according to Japanese government study, there were only 58 percent of people trying to go the higher places when they knew about warning. 6In addition, people paid a lot of attention on searching for all missing victims even one year after historical disaster occurring. 7 For the long term, Japanese are constructing a special wall depending tsunami. The height of this wall will be 20 meter with 13 m being under the water surface as basement and 7 m above the surface. This wall will expand 234 m along with Wakayamas coastal line. The whole cost for this project could be 730 million yen. It is expecting that this wall will be finished in 2020 and become efficient tool to protect Japan from strong tsunami as in 2011. 8Nevertheless, there were two opposite ideas about this long run solution. Many people strongly believe that, seawall could create some drawbacks affecting to environment, scene and fisheries. It is obvious that, in order to construct the seawalls Japanese need to cut down some trees to make way for it. Several Japanese said that seawalls look like walls of the jail. Moreover, it is likely that this solution is not really necessary because it cannot protect people who lived in higher ground. Last but not least, the wall may stop Japanese caring about tsunami in the future. In somehow, it could make them over confident that they are completely safety and when another tsunami comes they cannot escape on time. Huge amount of money invested on this project should be considered. Meanwhile, the number of citizens supporting for seawall constructing is also significant because it not only protects Japanese but it is also an opportunity to reduce unemployment rate in this nation for many years.9 Future may go to one of two directions basing on choosing of Japanese. However, according to the temporary situation it is likely that Japanese government still continuously builds the seawall. If Japan decides to keep implementing this project seawall will protect them or at least prolonging time so that citizens will have enough time to escape from disaster. In fact, climate is changing negatively with the passing of time. It is much more complicated and worse with more disasters that beyond humans image. It is no denial that there will be other tsunamis come to Japan. That is the major justification why Japanese must think about some solutions in order to protect themselves and this is the one. On the other hand, Japanese scientists have done researches and investigated in order to understand more about disasters. Actually, they got some ideas to explain about other big and special tsunamis which had many similar characteristic to tsunami in 2011 such as tsunami in Nicaragua in 1992, Sumatra in 2004 and Java in 2 years later. Scientists believe that they can get more knowledge and find out the way to predict, defend and recover the damages that tsunamis bring to them.10As far as I am concerned although disasters are unavoidable and dangerous Japan with advanced technology and social responsibility they will overcome all of them. When Japanese has to cope with disasters they will get lessons for themselves, be stronger and find the new path to go and be successful.

Reference:1. Japan quake: Loss and recovery in numbers. (2012, March 11). Retrieved March 28, 2015, from bbc: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-172190082. Oshin, B. (2013, August 22). Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information. Retrieved March 28, 2015, from Live science: http://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html3. Find out the reasons leading to tsunami in Japan. (2012, August 30). Retrieved March 28, 2015, from Vietnamnet: http://m.vietnamnet.vn/vn/khoa-hoc/86627/tim-ra-nguyen-nhan-gay--sieu--song-than-o-nhat.html4. Japan quake: Loss and recovery in numbers. (2012, March 11). Retrieved March 28, 2015, from bbc: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-172190085. Oshin, B. (2013, August 22). Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information. Retrieved March 28, 2015, from Live science: http://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html6. Oshin, B. (2013, August 22). Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information. Retrieved March 28, 2015, from Live science: http://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html

7. Trang, M. (2012, February 9). Japan is still searching for victims . Retrieved March 28, 2015, from VNExpress: http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/the-gioi/chia-se-cung-nuoc-nhat/nhat-ban-van-tim-kiem-nan-nhan-song-than-2216866.html8. Japan is trying to build defending tsunami seawall. (2013, April 6). Retrieved March 28, 2015, from Khoahoc.TV: http://khoahoc.tv/doisong/moi-truong/giai-phap/45681_nhat-xay-thu-de-chan-song-than.aspx9. AP, E. K. (2015, March 22). Japan Opts for Massive, Costly Sea Wall to Fend off Tsunamis. Retrieved March 28, 2015, from abcnews: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/japan-opts-massive-costly-sea-wall-fend-off-2981874510. Find out the reasons leading to tsunami in Japan. (2012, August 30). Retrieved March 28, 2015, from Vietnamnet: http://m.vietnamnet.vn/vn/khoa-hoc/86627/tim-ra-nguyen-nhan-gay--sieu--song-than-o-nhat.html