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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."
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.
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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.
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.
Water often looses. See the Netherlands. In fact: hire the Dutch to design your wall.
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
South-east Australia already has a similar barrier. We call it "New Zealand".
- Chuq