Thanks to the country's strict building codes, the enormous magnitude-9 Tohoku earthquake left Japan's homes and businesses relatively untouched. But the earthquake triggered a deadly tsunami that roared through coastal cities and villages, destroying almost 300,000 buildings, according to the National Police Agency of Japan.
The damaged insulation, refrigerators, air conditioners and electrical equipment unleashed 7,275 tons (6,600 metric tons) of halocarbons, the study reported. Halocarbon emissions rose by 91 percent over typical levels in the year following the earthquake, said Takuya Saito, lead study author and senior researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan. [In Pictures: Japan Earthquake & Tsunami
These halocarbons add to and help accelerate global warming, especially considering that their levels have risen 34 percent in a single year. These gasses have been banned for over 15 years because of the understood detrimental effects it has on our environment. In fact, Japanese ecologists expressed bewilderment towards the evidence showing the immense increase caused by the tsunami.
http://www.livescience.com/50371-japan-tsunami-released-ozone-destroyers.html
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