DISASTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE

A FOCUS ON SEARCH AND RESCUE AFTER A TSUNAMI

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of

North Carolina, USA

COMMUNITYCOMMUNITYDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATION

HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

•NATURAL HAZARDS•INVENTORY•VULNERABILITY•LOCATION

RISK ASSESSMENTRISK ASSESSMENT

RISK

ACCEPTABLE RISK

UNACCEPTABLE RISK

GOAL: DISASTER GOAL: DISASTER RESILIENCERESILIENCE

•PREPAREDNESS•PROTECTION•EMERGENCY RESPONSE•RECOVERY

FOUR PILLARS OF FOUR PILLARS OF RESILIENCERESILIENCE

A DISASTER OCCURS WHEN A CITY’S PUBLIC POLICIES ALLOW IT TO BECOME …

UN—PREPAREDUN—PROTECTED

UN—ABLE TO RESPOND EFFECTIVELYNON—RESILIENT IN THE RECOVERY

PHASE

THE FOUR PILLARS OF DISASTER RESILIENCE

3. EMERGENCY RESPONSE (EVACUATION; MASS CARE; SEARCH AND RESCUE; EMERGENCY MEDICAL;

EMERGENCY TRANSPORTATION; LOCAL, REGIONAL, AND

INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE)…

SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS: The Timely And

Intelligent Concentration of a City’s Resources to Meet

Extremely Urgent Needs During the First Few Days After The

Tsunami Wave Run Up

AN INTELLIGENT CITY IS READY TO CONDUCT SEARCH AN INTELLIGENT CITY IS READY TO CONDUCT SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS AFTER A TSUNAMI AND RESCUE OPERATIONS AFTER A TSUNAMI

BUT ----SEARCH AND RESCUE,

THE LAST BEST CHANCE FOR SURVIVAL, HAS

LIMITS

THE TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI

THE M9.0 EARTHQUAKE AND THE ACCOMP-ANYING TSUNAMI WERE CAUSED BY THE ONGOING SUBDUCTION OF THE PACIFIC AND EURASIAN TECTONIC PLATES.

BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI

THE EARTHQUAKE OCCURRED AT 2:46 PM,

MARCH 11, 2011

THE TSUNAMI ARRIVED ABOUT 15 MINUTES LATER:

3:01 PM, MARCH 11, 2011

AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI

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..

THE TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE IS NOW A M9.0 EVENT

The MEGA-earthquake, which struck at 2:46 pm on Friday, March 11th, could have caused a disaster….

THE EARTHQUAKE IS NOW A M9.0 EVENT

…BUT JAPAN was well prepared to cope with it.

A 7-10 M TSUNAM FOLLOWED IN ABOUT 15 MINUTES

Japan was also well prepared to cope with a tsunami, but ….

A 7-10 M TSUNAM FOLLOWED IN ABOUT 10 MINUTES

This tsunami was devastating, inun-dating towns, im-mobilizing airports and roads, destroy-ing buildings, and moving everything (e.g., people, cars) in its path as debris.

THE TSUNAMI TRANSFORMED A DISASTER INTO A CATASTROPHE

TSUNAMI DAMAGE

TSUNAMI DAMAGE

TSUNAMI DAMAGE

DIMENSIONS OF THE CATASTROPHE

WIDE SPREAD DAMAGE AND LOSS OF FUNCTION

MORTALITY ( IN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS)

“A NIGHTMARE NUCLEAR DISASTER ” HUGE ECONOMIC LOSSES

SOCIETAL IMPACTS

• Ground shaking from the main shock (which lasted about 300 seconds) and more than 150 aftershocks (many in the M6+ range) damaged homes, buildings, essential facilities, nuclear facilities, and critical lifelines (e.g., transportation infrastructure) over a wide area.

SOCIETAL IMPACTS

• The tsunami, which following within about 15 minutes, changed Japan’s coast lines, inundated land and urban areas, swept people and cars away, left tons of debris, created the potential for water borne diseases, hindered search and rescue operations, and stalled Japan’s economic productivity.

URGENT NEED FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE

• 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.

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.

MARCH 12-17

69 COUNTRIES PROMISED HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, BUT WERE STYMIED BY THE RISK FROM

RADIATION, AND BAD WEATHER

JAPAN’S SEARCH AND RESCUE

• 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: RIKUZENTAKADA

JAPANESE MARITIME SELF DEFENSE TEAM MAKING A RESCUE

SEARCH AND RESCUE: SENDAI

SEARCH AND RESCUE: NATORI

SEARCH AND RESCUE: SOMA; FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE

SEARCH AND RESCUE: TOYOMA

SEARCH AND RESCUE: MIYAGI PREFECTURE

SEARCH AND RESCUE, OFTEN THE LAST BEST

CHANCE FOR SURVIVAL, --- HAS LIMITS

ON MARCH 14TH, SOME SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAMS FOUND NO ONE TO RESCUE

NATORI: NO ONE TO RESCUE; MARCH 14

NATORI: NO ONE TO RESCUE EXCEPT A DOG; MARCH 14

NATORI: NO ONE TO RESCUE: MARCH 14

NO ONE TO RESCUE