Term for an event being referred to by its location or date

Is there a term for referring to an organization by its city rather than by its name? mentions synecdoche and metonym as terms used when an organization is referred to by its location.

Do these terms also apply when an event, rather than an organization, is referred to by its location? For example, Chernobyl, Fukushima, or Hiroshima.

What about when a date is used to refer to an event, such as 3/11 being used for the Japanese earthquake and tsunami?

Solution 1:

Referring to Wikipedia entries for metonymy and synecdoche, we see that metonymy certainly applies: "a thing or concept is [called] by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept." But synecdoche does not: "Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing ... A specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class". (Synecdoche does have one sense, in which "a container is used to refer to its contents", that at a stretch may apply here, if we regard a place or date as a "container" for an event.)