The importance of time place and space are significant because they can affect the severity of the

disaster. The location or the place of where the disaster happens can affect the death toll. This can be seen when the comparison of the Sumatra earthquake in 2004 and the 2011 Honshu earthquake. Time 2011, Honshu Earthquake
05:46:24 UTC (2:46 PM)

Place

2004, Sumatra Earthquake

00:58:53 UTC (7:58 AM)

Place Sumatra Honshu

Richter Scale 9.1 9.0

Casualties 286,000 30,000

Both earthquakes happened in the ocean, triggering a tsunami. Japan is country which is developed and has the resources to build modern buildings that can withstand earthquakes. Because Japan is located in the Ring of Fire (The ring of fire is a sting of volcanos and sites of seismic activity or earthquakes, around the edges of the Pacific Ocean.) it faces earthquakes often but is prepared for a disaster. As a result there are fewer fatalities. The Sumatra earthquake happened also along the Ring of Fire hence Indonesia is also an earthquake prone country. However it is not a rich and well developed country. This indicates that buildings in Indonesia werent able to withstand the intensity of the earthquake because the people in Indonesia do not have the resources to construct earthquake proof homes. Also the Sumatra earthquake caused a tsunami, there was no early warning system established in Asia in 2004. This was most likely because there havent been major earthquakes triggering tsunamis which caused many

casualties. In 2010 there was an early warning system which warned people living in Japan beforehand giving them the chance to move to higher ground and to survive. The Sumatra earthquake happened at eight in the morning when the majority of people where awake. However it was a Sunday and after Christmas, this suggests that people where most likely sleeping on the day and not going to work. This then led to many not being awake and ready for disaster causing high numbers of casualty. The Honshu earthquake happened at two forty five on a usual Friday work day. This meant that people were awake and working. Everybody was warned when the earthquake stuck and warned that it had triggered a tsunami via the early warning system. Perhaps this is because in the work day people are surrounded by technology, screens and the sound systems are the most common type of devices people have near them. The reason that the early warning system got out quickly was because people had access to technology so they got it from their devices and quickly. Both the earthquakes struck highly populated areas. Indonesia has a population of 246.9 million people; Japan has a population of 127.6 million people. Indonesia has 351 people per square mile which is a lot, Japan however has 836 people per square mile. Indonesia is a poor country which meant that a tsunami would have killed thousand sticking just one area because there were no costal defenses. Most of the casualties were from the tsunami. The people living in shacks would have died when the tsunami hit. In Japan the coastal areas were highly populated as well but Japan had costal defense and an early warning system. This then allowed people to get evacuated from the coastal cities, saving lives. The Sumatra earthquake caused colossal damage across many countries. The tsunami hit many countries which increased the number of casualties. The reason people did not know to stay away from the beach was because there was no early warning program set up. The rescue workers were then spread thin around the affected areas and countries making it harder to save lives and prevent preventable losses of life. The Honshu earthquake only affected a region in Japan which (unlike the Sumatra earthquake) let the helpers and rescues focus on one area and save lives.