So as I am going about America sharing about the work in the disaster zone of Japan's 3.11 disaster I have to realize people have forgotten the massiveness of this disaster. So as a baseline I am going to use America's biggest disaster to date; Katrina. By using Katrina as a baseline one can read the hard facts about 3.11 and understand why I am still there and working to help with recovery and development.
10 facts on Katrina:
1. The storm surge from Katrina was 20 ft (6 meters) high.
2. In New Orleans, the levees were designed for Category 3, but Katrina peaked at a Category 5 hurricane, with winds up to 175 miles per hour(282 kilometers per hour).
3. Katrina had 90,000 square miles (233,000 sq. kilometers) land damage.
4. 300,00 homes were destroyed or made unlivable.
5. Total cost of property damage $81 billion with the impact of economic lost around $150 billion.
6.. The final estimate death toll along with missing people was 1,833
7. Oil spills caused by Katrina 142 resulting in 8 million gallons of oil spilled (30.3 million liters).
These last three facts do not correlate well with the 3.11 disaster but however are important to know.
8. An estimated 80 % of New Orleans was under water, up 20 ft (6 m) deep in places.
9. However, 4 years and 9 months after Hurricane Katrina 20,000 people were still living in temporary dwellings.
10. Hurricane Katrina was the largest and third strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in the U.S.
10 facts on 3.11 tsunami and earthquake
1.The waves from the tsunami of 3.11 went as high as 128 ft (39 meters).
2. The tsunami raced outward from the epicenter at speeds that approached about 500 miles per hour(800 kilometers per hour).
3. The impact of the tsunami was approximately 217 square miles (561 square kilometers) in Japan.
4. 1,098,628 homes were destroyed or made unlivable.
5. Total cost of the disaster was $309 billion dollars making it the worlds most expensive natural disaster.
6. The final estimate death toll along with missing people was 20,000.
7. 3 nuclear power plants had to shut down due to nuclear radiation causing a 12.5 mile (20 kilometers) radius evacuation of cities.
These last three facts do not correlate well with the Katrina disaster but however are important to know.
8. About 250 miles (400 km) of Japan's northern Honshu coastline dropped by 2 ft(0.6 meters).
9. 300,000 people are still currently in temporary housing. The government is saying it will take another 5 to 10 years before everyone is out of temporary housing.
10. The 3.11 disaster was a 3 way disaster with an 9.0 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown all attributing to the overall destruction.
Sources:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1761942/Japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-of-2011
http://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/japan-tsunami-anniversary_n_2850983.html
http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-hurricane-katrina
http://www.livescience.com/11235-hurricane-katrina-history-numbers.html
http://media.wix.com/ugd/c2b835_41cb3ff700e987ed7aebe299f19e54cd.pdf
