LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS
JAPAN PART 1B: TSUNAMIS
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna,
Virginia, USA
NATURAL HAZARDS THAT PLACE JAPAN’S NATURAL HAZARDS THAT PLACE JAPAN’S COMMUNITIES AT RISK COMMUNITIES AT RISK
NATURAL HAZARDS THAT PLACE JAPAN’S NATURAL HAZARDS THAT PLACE JAPAN’S COMMUNITIES AT RISK COMMUNITIES AT RISK
EARTHQUAKES/TSUNAMIS
TYPHOONS
FLOODS
LANDSLIDES
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
ENACT AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES HAVING HIGH BENEFIT/COST FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
ENACT AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES HAVING HIGH BENEFIT/COST FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
GOAL: DISASTER GOAL: DISASTER RESILIENCERESILIENCE
GOAL: DISASTER GOAL: DISASTER RESILIENCERESILIENCE
REGIONAL MAP
THE TOHOKU QUAKE/TSUNAMI: THE RESULT OF PLATE TECTONICS
TSUNAMIS
EARTHQUAKES THAT GENERATE TSUNAMIS OCCUR FREQUENTLY IN JAPAN AS A RESULT OF COMPLEX
SUBDUCTION OF THE PACIFIC, PHILIPPINE AND EURASIAN PLATES
JAPAN’S JAPAN’S COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES
JAPAN’S JAPAN’S COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIESDATA BASES DATA BASES
AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATIONDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATION
HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS
•TSUNAMI HAZARDS•PEOPLE AND BLDGS. •VULNERABILITY•LOCATION
TSUNAMI RISK TSUNAMI RISK
RISK
ACCEPTABLE RISK
UNACCEPTABLE RISK
GOAL: TSUNAMI GOAL: TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCEDISASTER RESILIENCE
• PREPAREDNESS•PROTECTION•EARLY WARNING•EMERGENCY RESPONSE•RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION
POLICY OPTIONSPOLICY OPTIONS
INADEQUATE RESISTANCE TO HORIZONTAL GROUND SHAKING
EARTHQUAKESEARTHQUAKES
SOIL AMPLIFICATION
PERMANENT DISPLACEMENT (SURFACE FAULTING & GROUND
FAILURE)
IRREGULARITIES IN ELEVATION AND PLAN
TSUNAMI WAVE RUNUP
POOR DETAILING AND WEAK CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
FRAGILITY OF NON-STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS
CAUSES OF DAMAGE
CAUSES OF DAMAGE
“DISASTER LABORATORIES”
“DISASTER LABORATORIES”
HIGH VELOCITY IMPACT OF INCOMING WAVES
TSUNAMIS TSUNAMIS
INLAND DISTANCE OF WAVE RUNUP
VERTICAL HEIGHT OF WAVE RUNUP
INADEQUATE RESISTANCE OF BUILDINGS
FLOODING
INADEQUATE HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL EVACUATION
PROXIMITY TO SOURCE OF TSUNAMI
CAUSES OF DAMAGE
CAUSES OF DAMAGE
“DISASTER LABORATORIES”
“DISASTER LABORATORIES”
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE
• ALL TSUNAMIS.
• DISASTER-INTELLIGENT COMMUNITIES USE TIMELY EARLY WARNING BASED ON CRITICAL INFORM-ATION TO EVACUATE PEOPLE AND PREPARE.
THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER HAS A VITAL ROLE IN ISSUING TSUNAMI WARNINGS
SOME OF JAPAN’S NOTABLE TSUNAMI EXPERIENCES
JUNE 16, 1964
MARCH 11, 2011
THE NIIGATA EARTHQUAKE: JUNE 16, 1964
• The M7.5 Niigata earthquake devastated Niigata, located 50 km south of the epicenter, mainly as a result of massive soil failure and tsunami waves.
• The port of Niigata was completely destroyed by the tsunami waves..
PORT OF NIIGATA
THE TOHOKU DISASTER: JANUARY. 17, 1995
• The M9.0 Tohoku earthquake was huge, but its ground shaking did NOT cause the disaster that killed an estimated 21,000 people …
• The tsunami generated by the earthquake did!
THE TSUNAMI
Wave run up reached 40 meters in some locations
THE TSUNAMI—the beginning
• The tsunami slammed the east coast of Japan, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people, before racing across the Pacific ---
AN OFFSHORE EPICENTER
• It only took seconds for the P-and S-waves to reach Sendai, and about 15 minutes for the tsunami waves, but what a difference in damage..
TSUNAMI WAVES:NATON MYIAGI PREFECTURE
TSUNAMI WAVES: COAST OF NORTHERN JAPAN
OARAI INUNDATED BY TSUNAMI
TSUNAMI WAVS: SENDAI AIRPORT
SENDAI AIRPORT: COVERED WITH MUD FROM TSUNAMI
SENDAI AIRPORT: COVERED WITH CARS, MUD, & DEBRIS
TSUNAMI DAMAGE
UNEXPECTED IMPACTS
• The nuclear power plants in the region shut down automatically; an immediate evacuation of tens of thousands in 10- 20 km radii from the plant followed.
• Radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility were 1,000 times normal levels.
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR FACILITY HAD 3 FAILURES
IMMEDIATE SOCIETAL IMPACTS
• Four and one-half million left without electricity.
• One and one-half million without water.
• Metro, trains, and airport shut down.
URGENT SOCIETAL NEEDS
• Vertical evacuation to escape the tsunami wave run up, the only way to save lives, was not available to most people.
URGENT SOCIETAL NEEDS
• Mass care and health care needs were urgent because of the high radiation levels.
• Deaths, as expected reached tens of thousands.
THE TSUNAMI---the end
• --- The tsunami then raced across the Pacific at 822 -1222 kph (500 to 800 mph) to arrive 5-7 hours later in Alaska and Hawaii and other parts of the West Coast of the USA, and 18 hours later along the coast of South America.
THE TSUNAMI TRAVELED ACROSS THE PACIFIC
TSUNAMI WAVE PATH
HAWAII
• The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported that water rushed ashore in Honolulu, swamping the beach in Waikiki and surging over the break wall in the world-famous resort, BUT stopping short of the area's high-rise hotels.
LESSONS LEARNED FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE
• ALL TSUNAMIS• CAPACITY FOR
INTELLIGENT EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE--- EMERGENCY RESPONSE--- A NIGHTMARE! A NIGHTMARE!
• The fires and explosions in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility and radiation levels that were 1,000 times normal levels created a “nightmare disaster response scenario” for the Government of Japan.
MARCH 12
EVACUATION AND MASS CARE
Immediately after the earthquake and tsunami,
the Japanese Government began implementing its post- disaster response plans in a
highly-charged, possible “nightmare nuclear disaster”
environment.
URGENT NEED FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE
• Even though, with so many people (about 20,000) missing over a wide area after the tsunami, search and rescue was a moral imperative and an urgent need,---
• IT WAS UNUSUALLY DIFFICULT!
EVACUATION
• Approximately 450,000 people were evacuated by military personnel from areas damaged in the quake and in a 33 km radius around the nuclear facilities
EVACUATION OF CHILDREN
JAPAN’S SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAMS
• The Japanese urban search and rescue teams, which had been helping in the search for Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake victims for two weeks, headed back to Japan to help with the S and R.
JAPAN’S SEARCH AND RESCUE
• Approximately 50,000 members of Japan’s Self Defense Forces were mobilized immediately and sent to the hardest hit areas.
JAPAN’S SEARCH AND RESCUE
• Tokushu Kyuunan Tai, the search and rescue unit of the Japan Coast Guard, was dispatched to accelerate search and rescue operations.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
SEARCH AND RESCUE: RIKUZENTAKADA
SEARCH AND RESCUE: SOMA; FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE
SEARCH AND RESCUE: MIYAGI PREFECTURE
MARCH 12-17
69 COUNTRIES PROMISED HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, BUT WERE STYMIED BY THE RISK FROM
RADIATION, LACK OF GAS, AND WEATHER
Search and rescue operations, evacuations, and humanitarian assistance on local and global
scales…All were limited by the possibility of a “nightmare nuclear disaster.”
All actions were conducted with knowledge of the high
risk associated with the possibility of a significant
radiation release and a nuclear melt down.
MASS CARE
• Shortages, closed roads, and lack of fuel made it very difficult to meet survivors’ needs for food, water, medicine, and electricity.
LESSONS LEARNED FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE
• ALL TSUNAMIS• CAPACITY FOR
RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION IS ESSENTIAL FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE.
THE RESULT: A CATASTROPHE
• Japan’s social, technical, administrative, political, legal, health care, and economic systems were tested to their limits by the socio-economic impacts of the earthquake and tsunami, the radiation, and the harsh weather.
SUMMARY OF THE DISASTER
• The tsunami wave run up together with the earthquake ground shaking caused major damage to 1.2 million buildings.
• Simultaneously, wide spread fires burned out of control.
• Economic losses were estimated at $574 billion.
