2011 M9.0 Tohoku, Japan Earthquake LIDAR

LIDAR videos showcasing geotechnical failures at nine sites as a result of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake in Japan. LIDAR scans of the sites were taken in April 2011 by GEER Reconnaissance Team 2. The team was led by Robert Kayen of the U.S. Geological Survey and included Professor Yasuo Tanaka of Kobe University, Takahiro Sugano of the Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI), and Hajime Tanaka, a recent Masters graduate of Tokyo University. Data analysis and animation renders of the LIDAR imagery coordinated by Robert Kayen (rkayen@ucla.edu) and students Sean Cullenward (UCLA), Ivan Estevez(CCNY), Winnie Yeh (UCLA), and Davis Thomas (UCLA).

To return to the LIDAR Media Lab Click here vimeo.com/lidarmedialab/

The full GEER Association Report QR-6 can be found at geerassociation.org/GEER_Post%20EQ%20Reports/Tohoku_Japan_2011/Quick%20Report_6_index.html

Fujinuma Reservoir - Main Dam Failure

8 months ago

Fujinuma Reservoir, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Fujinuma Dam is an embankment dam located in southern Fukushima Prefecture that failed shortly after the earthquake. The failure of the dam resulted in the uncontrolled release of the entire reservoir, which flowed downstream into a small village and killed 8 people (Matsumoto, 2011; Towhata et al., 2011). In the animation, rainbow-shade coloring indicates low elevations (red) to high elevations (blue).

The pre-failure model is a computer-generated estimation of the dam site before the earthquake and dam failure, created based on the original Fujinuma Dam design.