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Health

Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami linked to increased risk of dementia

By Jason Arunn Murugesu

29 September 2021

Man walking in the snow

An elderly person walking in snow on a flooded road in Ishinomaki, Japan a few weeks after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011

BJ Warnick/Newscom/Alamy

The magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 killed 20,000 people and saw as many as 100,000 children uprooted from their homes. Now there is evidence that they may also have contributed to cognitive decline in certain people.

Koichiro Shiba at Harvard University and his colleagues wanted to know whether directly experiencing the earthquake and tsunami, as well as…

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