Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

A major earthquake (the great Tohoku earthquake, Mw = 9) striked at 2:46 pm a printer, server and computer assembly plant. The 1000 employees working on the assembly and test chains had to sit on the ground for 3-4 minutes not to fall. At the end of the foreshocks at 2:50 pm, the main building was evacuated in good order. Outside the building, employees found themselves dressed in light work suits while a snow storm was in progress. At 3:30 pm, employees counting was finished, so they were allowed to enter with their helmet in the locker room to get their warm clothes and the keys of their car so as to come back to their home. In the production building, compliant with the latest seismic standards, the water supply was cut, walls have been cracked, water and air pipes have fallen, ceilings and electrical cables racks have collapsed, 500 personal computers have been destroyed on the production lines, 4 lifts have been damaged, as well as one conveyor and test equipments . The aftershocks that occured less than 1 month after (Mw = 7.1) worsened the structural damage. No casualties have been recorded. The rehabilitation mobilized 130 employees and more than 300 providers. The plant restarted after 11 days and reached its full capacity 41 days later. The amount of damage and production losses are estimated at more than 50 million of euro (2011).