Many parts of Japan are sinking fast after a 9-magnitude earthquake

The 2011 9-magnitude epic earthquake that caused tsunamis in Japan seems to make many parts of this country sink quickly into the sea. The rate of subsidence in the past year was recorded 1000 times higher than the previous year.

This is information recently announced by the Japanese Ministry of Environment on December 18. Accordingly, nearly 6000km ² of land area throughout Japan has subsided more than 2cm in the period from March 31, 2011 to March 31, 2012.

A stretch of road was devastated by the 2011 earthquake

This figure is 1000 times higher than the previous statistics period and is also the highest level since the data on this country's subsidence began to be recorded in 1978. In Japan, organizations that exploit underground water often through monitoring land subsidence.

About half of the 30 areas surveyed in 20 localities recorded subsidence levels of more than 2 cm. This level is considered to have the potential to affect the stability of construction works.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, the Kesennuma region in Miyagi Prefecture, which was most devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, suffered the strongest subsidence with recorded data of 73.8cm. It was next to Ichikawa area of ​​Chiba Prefecture with a subsidence of 30.9cm. Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture also subsided 15.2cm.

There are 7 areas subsided over 10cm, belonging to Tohoku Prefecture and Kanto region, including Tokyo City. Ministry of Environment officials confirmed that the subsidence was due to the March 11 earthquake last year and they feared that this phenomenon would continue and could destroy construction works.