My Terrific Padlet by Jayda Ah You

Fukushima Disaster

127129_5 — 2025-08-21 19:48:40 UTC

This event was a severe nuclear accident. It occurred on March 11 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. It was triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and a tsunami.

What happened?

127129_5 — 2025-08-21 20:19:24 UTC

An earthquake with a 9.0 magnitude hit Fukushima. This earthquake instantly damaged 3 operating reactors and effected a 4th. A 15 meter high tsunami came right after. As of all this was happening there was radioactive material released in the area, disaster related deaths, evacuation, and lots of damage left that people to this day are dealing with.

How did it impact people?

127129_5 — 2025-08-21 20:31:31 UTC

According to the World Nuclear Association there was 2313 deaths from evacuees of the disaster and 19500 deaths related to the earthquake or tsunami. This event caused people to be evacuated from their homes and chronic health issues for those around. Over time and thanks to decontamination this area is safe to live in now.

How did it impact economics (profit)

127129_5 — 2025-08-22 20:03:04 UTC

The Fukushima disaster affected the economics very negatively. There was a big drop in industrial production and trade. The cleanup and decontamination alone has costed $20 billion. Power utility and money to the evacuees has exceeded $50 billion. There was so much damage and time gone by it has decreased tourism. There are more energy shortages because they now rely on fossil fuels.

How did it impact the environment (planet)?

127129_5 — 2025-08-22 20:29:42 UTC

This accident caused radioactive fallout. There is contaminated water, soil, and wildlife. This area is now constantly monitored. Lots of contaminated cooling water entered and effected the ocean currents. Changes have been recorded in the wildlife and marine animals. To this day there are areas still contaminated which has been globally detected and people are still working on it. Fukushima is still livable though.

How this event changed the way human eyes view the environment/shift our responsibilities?

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 19:25:32 UTC

This event changed the way humans view the environment or shifted our responsibilities involving nuclear energy. Japan stopped using their power plant and switched to fossil fuel. There was a global decline in nuclear energy use after this event. The world changed their safety protocols involving the use of their energy. There are also diseases that came after the disaster recorded in history.

Fukushima map

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 19:29:25 UTC

This map is based of Fukushima and the area affected by the disaster

Picture taken in Fukushima

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 19:32:40 UTC

I liked this photo and wanted to include it because it's a beautiful photo and was taken in Fukushima. Fukushima isn't just a power plant its a place where people live.

Photo

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 19:35:29 UTC

This photo was taken after the accident in Fukushima

Why is this event important in the history of the environment?

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 19:40:29 UTC

The Fukushima power plant was the largest single release of radioactivity. This disaster has left long term effects to the environment. It has reshaped the way the public deals with nuclear power and global energy. We've had biodiversity changes, contamination problems, and long studies of this event. It has effected people globally and that's why this disaster is important to the history of the environment.

How was this problem solved?

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 19:55:42 UTC

The Fukushima event hasn't exactly been solved, it's being managed. When this first happened there was cool downs and evacuation but there has been long term effects that make it hard to completely "solve the problem". There are cleaning projects decontamination, and efforts being put into this project but it still isn't over. It is predicted to be solved between 2037 or 2051. We need to solve this problem because it has created ongoing health risks and effects people globally and the environment in a negative way.

Interesting fact

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 19:57:59 UTC

This whole event was caused by 9.0 earthquake which was followed by a tsunami which is what damaged the Fukushima power plant.

Fun fact

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 20:04:02 UTC

There was an evacuation ordered for this and it was for people within a 12.5 mile radius of the disaster.

Fun fact

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 20:06:09 UTC

The amount of money lost trying to solve this disaster has costed around $235 billion.

Positive effects of the disaster

127129_5 — 2025-08-25 20:11:14 UTC

The Fukushima event really was tragic but if it didn't happen we wouldn't have strengthened nuclear safety standards or have had a global shift toward renewable energy. Overall we were able to get something good out of this and improve ourselves/ environments.