Mapping the Japanese disaster... - further updates for geography teachers

The Tsunami has been notable for the impact on coastal communities in particular prefectures.
The phrase "wiped from the map" has been used in numerous newspaper articles, such as this one from Alex Thomson in Minami Sanriku

If towns have been wiped from the map, then there will inevitably be a need for new maps. GPS and GIS will be needed to plot relief routes, co-ordinate the delivery of supplies, bulldoze routes through a mass of rubble which stretches for miles in some cases, reroute damaged infrastructure and rebuild housing. The influence of the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 meant that most buildings in the affected area were only two or three stories high. It may be that there will need to be further artificial refuges built in the area, assuming that it is re-colonised.

The USGS has produced a useful poster of the area that was affected by the earthquake. It is available to download as a JPG in various sizes, and also as a PDF for printing...

Harvard Centre for Geographic Analysis has created a GIS data portal
This includes a range of mapping links, but also a DATA tab, which provides a link through to some useful data downloads. These are in ESRI Shapefile format, so teachers with access to GIS package can make use of the maps and downloads.

ESRI Inc have produced a map which has a range of useful information and layers to explore.

Google Maps summary page has already been mentioned in previous blog post, as has the GeoEye updated imagery with left to right sliders for comparison on the NY Times page

Map Action is a charity that the GA has been involved with before, and our Programme Director John Lyon ran the London Marathon last year to raise funds for their work. I will post in more detail some of the work that they are doing having made a contact there earlier today. This will be in a separate post...

Thanks to Jo Blackmore for sending me two resources which she produced for her department, and which can be used in various ways...
They are embedded below....


and a card sort

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Card Sort

Thanks also to Moira Jenkins @GlobalDimension for tipoff to a brand new RED CROSS Assembly resource which could be used by colleagues who are (I hope) volunteering to take assemblies this week (Red Nose Day permitting...)
The resource makes use of a Channel 4 news clip by Alex Thomson from the badly hit town of Minami Sanriku...

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