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The Impacts of Recent Tsunami Catastrophes

Tsunamis, which are also refer to as seismic waves, have in recent times affected many parts of the world. They occur as a result of strong earthquakes that occur below the sea floor. Large destructive tsunamis have serious devastating effect in any society. Different societies respond in different ways to counter destructive effects of tsunamis and the associated state of devastation. The recent tsunami catastrophes for instance in Tahiti, and Japan have led to various economic, political, and social problems (Ryder 23).

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

The videos indicate very serious devastating effects of tsunami to the society. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in the first video show how the disaster affected North Sumatra province. Strong waves resulted in destruction of bridges and roads (Alexander 56). It also destroyed homes and property, leaving people with nothing. Additionally, the waves destroyed many facilities along the coastal lines making it technically difficult for navy ship to dock.

The spring 2011 Japan Tsunami

This catastrophe devastated japan, towards the east coast. It affected people in different ways and led to destruction of many facilities and infrastructure. It led to loss of life and other effects in the adjacent environs like Philippines. From the video, it is evident that the waves swept across crops, vehicles, homes, triggering fires (Smil 99). This affected normal day to day activities and livelihood of persons in Sendai and islands.

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

This disaster was initiated by HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami” o “2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami”Tōhoku tsunami. As shown from the video, the tsunami caused serious damages which also produced equipment failures and meltdown of various nuclear reactors (Ryder 51). This led to exposure of radiations to the environment that resulted in serious health problems to the population and deaths. As a result of this, radioactive materials were emitted that led to further health risks from diseases like cancer (Kershaw, and Byron 33-4). Very many people, about 150000 were also forced to flee as a result heath of effects of radioactive contamination (Shaw 17-8). This catastrophe was also marked with fires in neighborhoods since the meltdown affected the entire facility.

General Impacts of Tsunami Catastrophes

The recent tsunami catastrophes have generated very serious ecological and human disaster across the globe. Firstly, tsunamis often result in severe economic problems in any society. Tsunamis occur with destruction of property, uprooting of the infrastructure of the community and even disrupts power supply in any given environment (Joseph 42). This in turn results in dramatic reduction in production capacity and economic potential of the community since such destructions thwart industrial production (Shaw 67).

There are also social effects of tsunamis in the society. For instance, the Fukushima disaster brought several social effects in Japan. A disaster like tsunami leads to loss of life and property and even displacement of people (Tsuchiya 75). In most cases, displacement of people and loss of property has impacts on dignity of the people affected and well as their social and psychological wellbeing ( HYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Anthony+N.+Penna%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=8” Penna, HYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Jennifer+S.+Rivers%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=8” and Rivers 76-8). Additionally, the manner of response, whether orderly or not also affects the social standing of a given society.

In conclusion, tsunamis have brought serious damaging effects to the society. These disasters have led to loss of life, destruction of homes, crops, infrastructure and other sensitive facilities. This results into economic, social and even environmental problems that usually affect the society for a long period of time. In the long run, the society becomes weak and vulnerable.

Works Cited

Alexander, David. Natural Disasters. New York: Chapman & Hall, 2008. Print.

HYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Anthony+N.+Penna%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=8” Anthony N. Penna, HYPERLINK “http://www.google.co.ke/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Jennifer+S.+Rivers%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=8” Jennifer S. Rivers. Natural Disasters in a Global Environment. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.

Joseph, Antony. Tsunamis: Detection, Monitoring, and Early-Warning Technologies. Burlington, MA: Academic Press, 2011. Internet resource.

Kershaw, Patricia J, and Byron Mason. The Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster: Implications for U.s. and Global Disaster Reduction and Preparedness: Summary of the June 21, 2005 Workshop of the Disasters Roundtable. Washington, DC: National Research Council, 2006. Print.

Ryder, Graham. The Cretaceous Tertiary Event and Other Catastrophes in Earth History. Boulder, Colo: Geological Soc. of America, 2006. Print.

Shaw, Rajib. Recovery from the Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster. Bradford, England: Emerald Group Publishing, 2006. Internet resource.

Smil, Vaclav. Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next 50 Years. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. Print.

Tsuchiya, Yoshito. Tsunami: Progress in Prediction, Disaster Prevention and Warning: [sixteenth International Tsunami Symposium, Tsunami ’93]. Dordrecht [u.a.: Kluwer, 2009. Print.

HYPERLINK “http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tsunamis/tsunami-101/” http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tsunamis/tsunami-101/