Lesson Y8-U01-L08

Y8-U01-L08 Living with Earthquakes: Japan and Tōhoku, 2011 Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 7

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U01-L08, Living with Earthquakes: Japan and Tōhoku, 2011: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 7: Year 8: Restless Earth: Tectonic Hazards, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is a tsunami?

    • A fast-flowing river that floods nearby towns after heavy rain in the mountains
    • A strong wind that blows across the sea and raises waves
    • A giant wave of mud that flows down a volcano's slopes
    • A huge sea wave set off by an undersea earthquake or eruption

  2. What does HIC stand for in this lesson?

    • High-Income Country
    • High-Impact Crisis
    • Horizontal Infrastructure Clearance
    • Hazard Index Count

  3. What is the Pacific Ring of Fire?

    • A ring of coral reefs that surrounds the Pacific islands
    • A line of high mountains across the centre of Asia
    • A cluster of hot springs in the Atlantic Ocean, found around the islands of the Caribbean
    • A zone of many earthquakes and volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean

  4. Which large ocean lies to the east of Japan?

    • The Pacific Ocean
    • The Atlantic Ocean
    • The Arctic Ocean
    • The Indian Ocean

  5. Which tectonic plate was pushed beneath Japan during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake?

    • The Eurasian Plate
    • The Nazca Plate
    • The Indian Plate
    • The Pacific Plate

  6. What was the magnitude of the Tōhoku earthquake on 11 March 2011?

    • 6.3
    • 8.0
    • 7.8
    • 9.0

  7. What was the approximate death toll of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami?

    • About 8,900
    • About 18,500
    • About 1,850
    • About 185,000

  8. Which nuclear power station was affected by the 2011 tsunami in Japan?

    • Fukushima
    • Chernobyl
    • Sellafield
    • Three Mile Island

  9. Tōhoku was magnitude 9.0 and Nepal was 7.8. Why did Tōhoku release far more energy?

    • The magnitude scale is logarithmic, so 1.2 steps higher means many times more energy
    • Magnitude 9.0 is simply 1.2 times larger than 7.8, so it releases only slightly more energy
    • Nepal's quake was measured on a different scale altogether
    • Tōhoku lasted for a much shorter time than Nepal's quake

  10. A tsunami wave reached 40 metres in places. Which type of factor is this?

    • Human
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Economic

  11. A nuclear power station on a coast was damaged in the disaster. Which type of factor is this?

    • Geological
    • Physical
    • Human
    • Climatic

  12. Which sequence correctly shows how the Tōhoku tsunami formed?

    • The sea floor jolts up, a wave races to the shore, the plate slips, and water spreads out over the land
    • Water spreads out, the plate slips, the wave races, the sea floor jolts up
    • The plate slips under Japan, the sea floor jolts up, water spreads out, and a wave races to the coast
    • A wave races to the coast, water spreads out, the sea floor jolts up, the plate slips

  13. Why did a wealthy, well-prepared country like Japan still suffer so many deaths in 2011?

    • Japan had no earthquake drills at all, unlike Nepal
    • Nepal's earthquake was far stronger than Japan's
    • Its tsunami reached a densely populated coast, overwhelming some defences despite Japan's wealth
    • Japan's homes were all built from mud and straw, which is why the tsunami destroyed every one of them

  14. A sea wall was built to protect a Japanese town. Which statement best evaluates it?

    • It saved lives from smaller waves but was overtopped by the largest tsunami
    • It had no effect, because walls cannot resist water at all
    • It made the tsunami stronger by blocking the water, so the waves rose higher against the town
    • It stopped all water from entering the town in every case

  15. Which statement correctly compares the 2011 Japan and 2015 Nepal earthquakes?

    • Both were major quakes at destructive boundaries, but Japan's deaths came mostly from the tsunami
    • Both were tsunamis caused by volcanoes on land, which erupted under the sea near the coast and flooded the cities
    • Japan's quake happened in the middle of a plate, far from any boundary
    • Nepal's quake happened at a constructive boundary

  16. Why can a wealthy country still suffer many deaths from an earthquake?

    • Earthquakes only cause deaths in countries that sit directly on fault lines
    • Wealth and preparation do not remove vulnerability, as hazard scale matters
    • Earthquake deaths depend only on what time of day the shock happens
    • Richer countries always construct weaker buildings than poorer countries do

  17. Why is vulnerability a better way to explain disasters than magnitude alone?

    • It replaces the need to study the physical hazard at all
    • It considers how exposed and prepared people are, not just the size of the hazard
    • It measures the magnitude of a hazard in the same way as a seismometer
    • It shows only how much money a country spends on aid, and nothing about how safe its buildings are

  18. Which evaluation of preparation in Japan is most accurate?

    • Preparation only affects shaking, and never affects the sea
    • Preparation was useless because it saved no lives at all
    • Drills and sea walls saved many lives, but preparation cannot fully protect against the largest events
    • Preparation fully removed all risk from the tsunami, so no one needed to leave the coast or move to higher ground at all

  19. Why might Nepal's 2015 earthquake show different human factors from Japan's 2011 tsunami?

    • Japan had no coastline, so the tsunami caused no damage to any town, port or nuclear power station anywhere at all in 2011
    • Nepal had no buildings, so the earthquake caused no damage
    • Both had identical human factors and identical physical hazards
    • Nepal's risk came from weak buildings and poverty, while Japan's came from a high-exposure coast and huge waves

  20. Which statement best explains the impact of the Tōhoku disaster?

    • A small surface quake had no tsunami, so the damage was limited
    • A huge undersea quake created a tsunami that hit a densely built coast, with nuclear risk, despite good preparation
    • A drought caused the wave, which hit a sparsely populated coast
    • A volcano erupted under the sea and dried the coast, so the sea water never reached the towns or the ports at any point during the whole disaster

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