Japan To Build 250-Mile-Long, Four Storey-High Wall To Stop Tsunamis

An anonymous reader points out this daunting construction plan in Japan. "Japanese authorities have unveiled plans to build a giant 250-mile long sea barrier to protect its coastline from devastating tsunamis. According to the proposals, the £4.6bn ($6.8bn) barrier would reach 12.5m high in some places – stretching taller than a four storey building. It would be made out of cement – and actually be composed of a chain of smaller sea walls to make construction easier. The plan comes four years after a huge tsunami ravaged Japan's north-eastern coast."

Comments

Most of Japan is very beautiful...

[Rei]

.... but their beaches, usually not so much. So hopefully this won't be too much of an eyesore. Japan is usually pretty good about trying to fit human-made structures into the landscape; my friends and I had a running joke when we were there: "They have the prettiest drainage ditches here!" ;) That said, a 250-mile long, 4-story "anything", that's going to be hard to make look nice.

I'm rather curious about what kind of concrete they're going to use. Japan has been a pioneer in the use of fiber-reinforced concrete, I wonder if they'll use that in lieu of steel that may need cathodic protection in such a high salt environment?

Re:Most of Japan is very beautiful...

[AmiMoJo]

There are already a lot of these walls in Japan and they are not really ugly. They aren't walls like you would surround your house with, they have sloped sides. There is usually a path along the top and stops or slopes at intervals. They are grass covered, and sometimes lined with trees but usually kept clear. More like mounds than what most people think of as walls.

Ugly Solution

[Anonymous Coward]

A huge wall seems like an ugly and in-elegant solution. Building large mounds of forested areas would be much more attractive and useful (as a wildlife, tourist, and a tree resource). As a backup - build man made lakes at a higher altitude that can dump into the ocean in under 20 minutes and time the water dump to coincide with the tsunami. I would much rather be surrounded by trees and lakes than look at a big, ugly wall when I went to the beach.

Re:Ugly Solution

[drinkypoo]

That the proposal is just bare concrete seems completely inexplicable to me; not only is concrete ugly as sin, it's also hugely unfriendly to the environment in terms of CO2 production.

You're not familiar with Japan, are you? You may not be able to get a permit to cut down a tree in your yard, if you're lucky enough to have one, but they're perfectly happy to buy up every redwood tree they can convince someone to cut down on their behalf. They coat them in tar and sink them beneath the ocean. Mature redwoods are some of the world's most efficient fixers of CO2; a mature tree actually fixes more carbon than the equivalent mass of young trees, or the equivalent area coverage of same.

Japan gives not one tenth of one fuck about environmental impact, so long as it doesn't affect them, just like everyone else. And they seem to be incapable of recognizing that the things they are doing are doing that, just like everyone else.

Re:Ugly Solution

[aevan]

*ahem*

researched whales into extinction.

Tsunami watch

[The Evil Atheist]

We are the tsunami watchers on the wall. Waves gather, and the soiling of my pants begin.

Will that be enough?

[hcs_$reboot]

In 2010 I visited a small town in Iwate where a high tsunami wall had been built 40 years before. In March 2011, the town has been completely devastated by the tsunami. Will the new wall be high and solid enough? That's an interesting question, but we won't probably know the answer (fortunately) before another few hundred years.

Yeah!

[nospam007]

Good-bye 12.49 Meter tsunamis, welcome 13 meter tsunamis.

Does Moore's law apply to Tsunamis?

[Quick Reply]

It doesn't matter how big you engineer for, sooner or later something big enough will come along and topple everything. Containing high water levels in nature has been tried many times before and they always fail sooner or later.

Re:Does Moore's law apply to Tsunamis?

[Neil Boekend]

Water often looses. See the Netherlands. In fact: hire the Dutch to design your wall.

It won't work...

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is the wall itself. There will be earthquakes to first crack it.

And "water always wins", as the Doctor says.

Didn't help with Kaijus...

[alexjplant]

Have we learned nothing from history? We need giant wave-breaking robots piloted by a pair of unlikely heroes to stop the tsunamis. Preferably with giant extendable swords to cut the breakers down to size.

Anti-Kaiju wall

[gijoel]

It also doubles as an anti-Kaiju wall. Just the thing to keep out those pesky monsters like Mothra, Gamera, and Godzilla*

* May not actually keep Godzilla out.

Or...

[Overzeetop]

You could not build any critical infrastructure within a set distance from the coast, and no habitable buildings within a second less restrictive distance. This is basic risk mitigation. You don't build critical facilities on a fault line, you shouldn't build one in the direct path of a (potential) tsunami. Go look at the USGS website, or any of a number of wind zone maps. All this stuff has data and is plotted out for the US - all you have to do is set your risk factor (50 years for hurricane/snow, 500 for earthquake in the US) and note your exceptions.

Australia

[Chuq]

South-east Australia already has a similar barrier. We call it "New Zealand".

Is anyone else reminded of King Canute?

[JThaddeus]

"But the sullen ocean answered with a louder, deeper roar,
And the rapid waves drew nearer, falling sounding on the shore;"
--William Thackeray King Canute