First January, 2024 Monday. The first day of the new year around 4 pm, japan had to face a 7.6 magnitude earthquake, that triggered a tsunami in the sea of japan. Wherein, the tides were up to 1.2 meters high which caused massive damages and casualties. Let me show you the exact place where the earthquake took place. It is in the Notop peninsula region.
A peninsula is a land mass. That is surrounded by water on three sides. So, this is the region that was affected by an earthquake, followed by a tsunami. You can also call this incident, the 2024 Notop, peninsula earthquake. And by the way, there wasn’t just one single earthquake event in the Noto peninsula. On Monday. First January 2024, the strongest one came at 4 pm with a magnitude of 7.6 but several smaller, tremors kept happening throughout the day and night have a look at this picture and try to understand what different magnitudes of earthquakes can cause now just imagine what a 7.6 magnitude earthquake can do.
It is a massive earthquake that can cause serious damage. If you remember in 2011, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which is known as the great Sennai earthquake or commonly known as the three by 11 earthquake, was the strongest earthquake ever recorded in japan, it was a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which triggered a devastating tsunami. They went to widespread damage and loss of life, and it also caused a nuclear accident at the Fukushima.
Tai nuclear plant, those tsunami waves led to a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant, causing the most severe nuclear accident since the 1986 churnable disaster in this Soviet Union. Now, the question is, why is japan Prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. That’s because of its location. Japan is situated along the pacific ring of fire which is the most active earthquake tectonic built in the world.
The rain refers to an imaginary horseshoe shaped zone that follows the remote pacific Ocean where many of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. Now within the ring of fire, there are different tectonic bells including the pacific plate, Eurasian plate, and the indoor Australian plate, which keeps meshing and colliding with each other and that causes earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.
This region is the world’s most active earthquake and volcanic belt. It is responsible for about 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes and 75% of its volcanic eruptions, but at the same time, this region is also home to some of the most incredible landscapes, huge, volcanic mountains and massive coral reefs, this is nature’s duality where nature’s raw power and delicate beauty coexist with this picture. You can now understand that Japan’s location on the pacific ring of fire place a major role in its earthquake frequency.
Japan sits right in the middle of this fairy collision zone, making it one of the mostly active regions in the World. And this is also one of the primary reasons why houses in japan are made mostly output. Now that you have understood about the earthquakes part, let’s also understand what triggered tsunami and the sea of japan. If you look at the word tsunami, it is a Japanese word that means harbor waits. These are series of giant ocean waves that are caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the ocean.
When an earthquake occurs under the ocean, a large chunk of ocean floor can suddenly move upward or downward leading to a sudden displacement of a large volume of water, thereby causing tsunami waves, a similar thing can happen when a volcano eruptions in the ocean, the lava that comes out of the volcano displaces, the water around it, and that water has to go somewhere and it naturally creates waves around the point of impact.
The size of these waves depends on various factors like the volume of lava, the depth of the water and the shape of the volcanic vent. Now, to answer the question, what caused the 2024? No, two peninsula, earthquake. Well, it was Not caused by underwater working, corruptions, let me tell you why it happened.
If you look at the Noto peninsula, let me show you the small micro tectonic plates that exist in and around japan. So, here’s the Noto peninsula. If you see two tectonic plate, boundaries pass through the note of peninsula, one is the armor plate and the other one is the occurs plate. So, if you see the northeastern tip of the Noto peninsula in japan, it sets on the boundary between the plate and the ammonium plate. These two plates are converging and pushing against each other building up. Immense pressure over time when two tectonic plates push against each other. Or the slide or rub against each other.
This causes increased friction and stress along the plate boundary. But in the space, the occurs plate was thrusted upwards by the ammonium plate, causing the ground to shake violently which was felt across the noto. Peninsula and surrounding areas. This is what caused a 7.6 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami on the first of January 2024. I hope you found this video informative.