Liquefaction: Land Sinkage from Earthquakes

Chiba Sidewalks Dropping from Liquefaction

As the rest of the world continues on with its own environmental disasters – Japan continues to grapple with the massive amounts of destruction caused by the great 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, tomorrow marking two months its two month anniversary. The aftermath in Tohoku and the nuclear crisis in Fukushima has left the Japanese government reeling with where to begin.

Chiba, home to Japan’s Disneyland largest concern is not damage from tsunamis, which dissolved towns in the east after the barrage of earthquakes along the pacific plate, but “land liquification.” Much of Tokyo’s real estate (particularly near Tokyo bay and other coastal areas) is artificial (landfill) – positively reacting to large earthquakes by turning its land mass into liquefaction. The ground sinks beneath a person’s feet; residential and commercial structures, roads, parks, power lines are slowly sinking into the earth with each aftershock or subsequent earthquake. Parked cars have sunk into the asphalt whereby it is half visible from the ground. The prestigious bay area home to tall luxury condos and newly built homes to young families has turned into a quicksand land mass within hours. This area was once the beach and ocean 30 decades ago. People chose to reside in this area in hope of a raising their families in the new communities of Chiba.

Urayasu and Ichikawa are attempting to secure a solution as to this date, the liquified areas have made roads inaccessible to much of the public.

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