Japan Earthquake/Tsunami

This picture shows the devastating earthquake

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Japan: Earthquake/Tsunami

         

Article By Aiden Woodworth Word Count 403 

A massive earthquake has hit Japan, killing thousands on March 11, 2011. The killer earthquake was magnitude 8.9. It struck 400 km north-east of Tokyo. It is one of the strongest earthquakes ever measured and the strongest earthquake to ever hit Japan. The devastating earthquake affected the lives of thousands of Japanese people.

To make matters worse a major tsunami hit Japan following the earthquake. The tsunami hit where the earthquake hit taking additional lives. After hitting Japan the tsunami traveled at a rate of 500 mph towards the US pacific coast. The tsunami waves were still 7 feet high by the time they hit the US west coast.

The gloomy days in Japan just don’t seem to be letting up.  The Fukushima power plant has exceeded normal temperatures. Thousands of people living near the power plant have been told to evacuate. Japanese nuclear safety officials say that the cooling system in the power plant failed and that they should deliberately release some radioactive steam.

Local seventh grade middle school students had the following comments about the Japan earthquake. The first question I asked was, “How did you feel about the Japan earthquake when you heard about it?”  “I felt devastated” said Jason L. “I felt sorry for them” answered Caleb C. “It was a big earthquake, tsunami, and power plant failure, I felt sad replied” Juame.  “I felt devastated in so many ways.” - Sergio M. I also asked, “Did you feel you should help?” Here is what some seventh graders replied. Michael M. said “I wanted to help.”   “Yes, I should have helped” replied Michael P. “I felt like I should have helped, but I didn’t know how” said Andrew V. “Yes although the relief efforts were great already” answered Jason T.

When asked about their knowledge of the situation in Japan, on average seventh graders said that on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most knowledgeable, that they were a 7.

The disasters in Japan were devastating and will probably always be looked at as a terrible and scary chain of events. Starting with the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and followed by the tsunami which caused the Fukushima power plants to overheat. The chain of events was very unfortunate. It will be many months if not years before Japan will be able to overcome the horrific damage from these unavoidable natural events.