January First, 2024. Amidst the buzz and excitement of the New Year, the island nation of Japan had their celebrations cut short by the movement of tectonic plates along the plate boundaries near the country itself.. An earthquake was produced which caused a great deal of destruction, shattering building support structures and throwing many of the wooden buildings within Japan aside as the Earthquake displayed its awesome power. Thousands of people were displaced by the catastrophe, and a temporary state of emergency was declared in Japan.
Of course, the nation of Japan, situated in a very active tectonic region of the Earth known as “The Ring of Fire,” a region making up a “ring” along the entirety of the Pacific, is no stranger to Earthquakes and tsunamis. The region gets its name from the massive amounts of volcanic and tectonic activity, ranging from frequent Earthquakes to outright massive volcanic explosions. The largest Earthquake ever recorded, a 9.7 in Chile, happened within the Ring of Fire. Japan has had two major recorded earthquakes in modern history: The Great Kanto Earthquake which killed an estimated 140,000 people, and the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami, which resulted in a nuclear power plant disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, and resulted in an estimated 20,000 deaths.
This 7.5 Earthquake is nowhere nearly as bad as the other two, with only 120 confirmed deaths at this time, but the damage is still severe, as an estimated 10,000 people have been left homeless as a result of the devastation wrought by the earthquake. Luckily however, it seems Japan has been spared of a tsunami, with tsunamis usually resulting from earthquakes around Japan as was observed back in 2011, meaning that the death toll and destruction will likely remain generally small.
According to the U.S geological survey, a U.S government agency that often catalogs earthquakes, this earthquake was “The strongest earthquake in the region in over four decades.” Fires resulted from the crumbling of buildings and bursting of gas pipes which necessitated the deployment of the Japanese Self Defense Force (SDF) to contain much of the damage and assist in search and rescue operations. In Shika town, an elderly man was reported dead after a building collapsed according to local police, one of 120 confirmed deaths according to AP, with most deaths still unknown due to bodies being crushed underneath large piles of rubble.
The earthquake was widely viewed on social media garnering worldwide attention. A witness on the social media site “X” (formerly twitter) posted footage of the Keta Grand Shine near the coast in Hakui, exclaiming her fear as the building in front of her swayed and buckled under the force of the earthquake. The large social media attention was also induced by the fact that most Japanese pray at shrines on January first for good luck in the New Year, shrines that have now suffered a great deal of damage owing to their aging structures.
97,000 people have been ordered to evacuate in nine prefectures all across Honshu. Many have commented that the Earthquake on the very first day of the New Year is a “bad omen,” which reflects the spiritual nature of Japanese society. The sudden Earthquake has left many wondering as to what else 2024 might bring, although, such is of course only skepticism.
The Japanese Government is expected to release more information as the situation continues to develop.
