Great East Japan Earthquake, JR East Mitigation Successes, and Lessons for California High-Speed Rail, MTI Report 12-37

California and Japan both experience frequent seismic activity, which is often damaging to infrastructure. Seismologists have developed systems for detecting and analyzing earthquakes in real-time. JR East has developed systems to mitigate the damage to their facilities and personnel, including an early earthquake detection system, retrofitting of existing facilities for seismic safety, development of more seismically resistant designs for new facilities, and earthquake response training and exercises for staff members. These systems demonstrated their value in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and have been further developed based on that experience. Researchers in California are developing an earthquake early warning system for the state, and the private sector has seismic sensors in place. These technologies could contribute to the safety of the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s developing system, which could emulate the best practices demonstrated in Japan in the construction of the Los Angeles-to-San Jose segment

Resilience Science for a Resilient Society in Natural Disaster Prone Countries

Recently, many destructive natural disasters occurred in the world. Therefore, the damage reductions and disaster mitigation for resilient society are very important and significant. For the implementation of these issues, we propose the resilience science including science, engineering, medicine, and social science. In social science, there are sociology, economics, psychology, law, pedagogy, etc. After 2011 earthquake in East Japan in which severe tsunami damages in a broad area occurred, the reconstruction and restoration activities in each area have been done; however, the progress speeds are not so rapid generally. One of reasons in which delayed reconstruction and restoration occurred is the shortage of pre-recovery plan and concept of future community in each area. In this chapter, we propose the resilience science for resilient society. The resilience science is based on multidisciplinary research fields, and the resilient society is defined as the society equipped with redundancy, robustness, elasticity, and safety. Especially, human resource cultivation is very important in resilience science for the resilient society. For the bright future, the resilience science for the resilient society based on human resource cultivation is indispensable

A CONCEPT FOR PREPAREDNESS AGAINST LEVEL 2 DISASTER RISK

The Japan Society of Civil Engineers proposed to introduce the earthquake motion of level 2 to reflect the seismic forces of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, the undertaking of “human based” soft measures for evacuation in the case of tsunamis that exceed the conventionally assumed scale of level 1 was discussed; design methods that allow facilities to withstand tsunamis in addition to conventional seismic forces are in demand. The level 2 disasters experienced in Japan were incorporated into design concepts only after such large disasters occurred. However, actual level 2 disasters include events other than earthquakes and tsunamis. Increasing seawater temperature due to global warming will induce sea level rise, and typhoons will likely become larger in scale. Disastrous events that exceed conventional design conditions in high tides are more likely to occur. The three largest bay regions in Japan, where large hinterlands lie below sea level, require examination to clarify these risks. The authors reviewed various phenomena and present that risk management on the basis of level 2 disaster risks is of great importance

Continuity and change in disaster education in Japan

This article aims to describe post-war continuity and change in disaster education in Japan. Preparedness for natural disasters has been a continuous agenda in Japan for geographical and meteorological reasons, and disaster education has been practised in both formal and informal settings. Post-war disaster management and education have taken a follow-up approach, which means that clusters of measures have been developed after critical national-scale disasters have occurred. Following this clustering, with a minor amendment, the article discusses continuity and change in disaster education, looking at the different versions of the national curriculum (the Course of Study) at the compulsory school level. It is argued that disaster education has always been delivered at school in post-war Japan – this is the continuity – however, its treatment in the curriculum has changed over the years, from the scientific knowledge model, to the civic participation model, to the multi-hazard model, to the everyday life model within broader economic, political and social contexts – this is the change. Through this historical description, the article sheds light on the complexity of the field ‘disaster education’, particularly its two-dimensional aspect, namely, ‘the science of disasters’ on the one hand, and ‘life skills for disasters’ on the other. Currently, these two dimensions are addressed within the policy framework of School Safety. It is argued, however, that this complexity has been a challenge in the positioning of disaster education in the Japanese system. The article concludes by exploring the direction that disaster education has been taking since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011

How to conduct research on recovery from a sociological perspective?

departmental bulletin pape

Cascading disasters triggered by tsunami hazards: A perspective for critical infrastructure resilience and disaster risk reduction

Although many studies have investigated relationships between tsunami characteristics and the impact on physical property and infrastructure, such information cannot explain how the damage to each object or type of infrastructure can trigger failures of other facilities. To understand these connections and the cascading impacts, this article reviewed several recent damaging tsunami events in Japan and Indonesia, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. A proposed cascading magnitude scale was applied to each tsunami event to determine and categorize causes, effects, and escalation points. Large tsunamis tend to be associated with earthquakes, liquefaction, and landslides that multiply the scale of impact. The main escalation points for tsunami related disasters were found to be failures of tsunami warnings, power plants, medical facilities, educational facilities, and infrastructure. From the perspectives of critical infrastructure resilience and disaster risk reduction, analysis of cascading impacts of multiple recent tsunami events could contribute to greater understanding of economic, political, and social impacts that stem from technical decisions regarding infrastructure management. Detailed examples of tsunami cases demonstrate the potential scale and extent of damage from cascading events, and by identifying the roles and examples of escalation points, disaster managers and decision-makers can better mitigate cascading impacts by targeting and preventing escalation points. However, more detailed investigation on tsunami characteristics and their impact on failures of each type of facility is still needed to develop tools to support decision-making for better emergency management to address short- and long-term social impacts

Science of Societal Safety

This open access book covers comprehensive but fundamental principles and concepts of disaster and accident prevention and mitigation, countermeasures, and recovery from disasters or accidents including treatment and care of the victims. Safety and security problems in our society involve not only engineering but also social, legal, economic, cultural, and psychological issues. The enhancement needed for societal safety includes comprehensive activities of all aspects from precaution to recovery, not only of people but also of governments. In this context, the authors, members of the Faculty of Societal Safety Science, Kansai University, conducted many discussions and concluded that the major strategy is consistent independently of the type and magnitude of disaster or accident, being also the principle of the foundation of our faculty. The topics treated in this book are rather widely distributed but are well organized sequentially to provide a clear understanding of the principles of societal safety. In the first part the fundamental concepts of safety are discussed. The second part deals with risks in the societal and natural environment. Then follows, in the third part, a description of the quantitative estimation of risk and its assessment and management. The fourth part is devoted to disaster prevention, mitigation, and recovery systems. The final, fifth part presents a future perspective of societal safety science. Thorough reading of this introductory volume of societal safety science provides a clear image of the issues. This is largely because the Japanese have suffered often from natural disasters and not only have gained much valuable information about disasters but also have accumulated a store of experience. We are still in the process of reconstruction from the Great East Japan earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. This book is especially valuable therefore in studying the safety and security of people and their societies

Multiple disasters management: Lessons from the Fukushima triple events

It has been five and a half years since the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) in March 2011. This study summarize management and policy lessons from the GEJE. The recovery efforts that followed the triple disasters: the earthquake, tsunami and meltdown of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant are in progress. The experience of the GEJE and tsunami prompted the building of embankments throughout the Pacific coastal side of the Tohoku region. The Cabinet’s Reconstruction Headquarters used at least 19 trillion yen ($158 billion) for intensive reconstruction over five years through 2015. The local government of the affected area accelerated the decontamination of commercial land which is an important action for the recovery. The central government introduced the Electricity Business Act for implementing voluntary energy conservation measures for peak energy seasons. The GEJE has had an indirect effect on the health of the disaster victims via job uncertainty as well. Decontamination is crucial in bringing people and businesses back to the affected area and promoting sustainable economic recovery because it reduces uncertainty about the short and long-term health risks. An efficient health and occupation plan for the victims is essential for the integrated approach to multiple disaster management