Quake damage in a car park in Kumamoto.
Kumamoto, in southern Japan, has suffered two large quakes in the last two days.
Read the articles below and then answer the questions ... Or at least think about them.
Quake 1:
Quake 2:
Why does Japan have so many earthquakes?
How strong were the quakes?
What were the primary effects of these two quakes?
How has the infrastructure (transport, electricity, communications, water and gas networks) been affected?
Why was a village in the countryside evacuated?
How did the quakes affect the inhabitants of Kumamoto? Why did they sleep outside?
How have the government and emergency services responded?
How long do you think it will take for the damage to be repaired?
There was an interview on BBC radio 4 this morning with Yasuhiro Soshino, a Red Cross manager, who was working in a hospital in the area. I cannot find the interview to link to in this blog, but the reason that I bring it up, is that there was no panic in his voice: he knew what was happening; knew what he had to do; he had the medical resources needed and, even though the power had gone off, the hospital had its own generator; and he was well aware that there would be more casualties brought to him in the near future. In short, he was prepared. Had this interview been with somebody in a similar position in Haiti or Sumatra, it might have been very different!
Please keep abreast of this story as it happens!
We will be looking at it next week!
