The monster earthquake that hit eastern Japan on March 11 was so powerful that it pulled the whole country out and down into the sea. As a result, several coastal cities are now facing regular flooding during high tides, making car travel impossible and rendering the sewage system unusable.
Testuro Imakiire, a researcher at Japan’s Geospatial Information Authority, says that this was expected to happen eventually but that it would be a gradual process over a long period of time, not a sudden one.
Imakiire says the quake was powerful enough to move the entire country, the first time this has been recorded since measurements began in the late 19th century. In Tokyo, 210 miles (340 kilometers) from Ishinomaki, parts of the city moved 9 inches (24 centimeters) seaward.
Some areas in Ishinomaki moved southeast 17 feet (5.3 meters) and sank 4 feet (1.2 meters) lower.
Scientists are also saying there’s nothing that can be done to reverse this effect, a fact which must be rather depressing for people who own houses in the affected areas.
“Everyone here still has housing loans they have to pay, and you can’t give away this land, let alone sell it,” says Seietsu Sasaki, 57, who also has to pay off loans on two cars ruined in the flooding.
I really hope they can build levees to remedy this problem, because the alternative (abandoning cities) doesn’t seem to be an option in a country with limited land.
