2011 TSUNAMI DEBRIS CONTINUOUS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

REMEMBERING SOME OF THE LESSONS FROM ONE OF 2013’S UNEXPECTED

DISASTERSPART 4: TSUNAMI TRASH

NATURAL HAZARDS THAT INCREASE A NATURAL HAZARDS THAT INCREASE A COMMUNITY’S RISK COMMUNITY’S RISK

NATURAL HAZARDS THAT INCREASE A NATURAL HAZARDS THAT INCREASE A COMMUNITY’S RISK COMMUNITY’S 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 DEFORMATION

EARTHQUAKE

TSUNAMI

VIBRATION

FAULT RUPTURE

FOUNDATION FAILURE

AMPLIFICATION

LIQUEFACTION

LANDSLIDE

AFTERSHOCKS

SEICHE

DAMAGE/LOSSDAMAGE/LOSS

DAMAGE/ LOSSDAMAGE/ LOSS

DAMAGE/ LOSSDAMAGE/ LOSS

DAMAGE/ LOSSDAMAGE/ LOSS

DAMAGE/ LOSSDAMAGE/ LOSS

DAMAGE/ LOSSDAMAGE/ LOSS

DAMAGE/ LOSSDAMAGE/ LOSS

DAMAGE/ LOSSDAMAGE/ LOSS

DAMAGE/ LOSSDAMAGE/ LOSS

DAMAGE/LOSSDAMAGE/LOSS

TSUNAMISTSUNAMIS

• OCCUR IN THE PACIFIC’S “RING OF FIRE,” THE INDIAN OCEAN, THE CARIBBEAN, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

• TSUNAMI WAVES CAN AFFECT DISTANT SHORELINES THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM THE EPICENTER

• OCCUR IN THE PACIFIC’S “RING OF FIRE,” THE INDIAN OCEAN, THE CARIBBEAN, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

• TSUNAMI WAVES CAN AFFECT DISTANT SHORELINES THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM THE EPICENTER

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”

THE TOHOKU DISASTER: MARCH 11, 2011

REGIONAL MAP

THE TOHOKU QUAKE/TSUNAMIGENIC ZONE

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..

THE TOHOKU DISASTER: MARCH 11, 2011

• 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—the beginning

• The tsunami, with wave heights reaching 40 m in some locations, slammed the east coast of Japan, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people, before racing across the Pacific, - - -

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

SOCIETAL IMPACTS

• Four and one-half million left without electricity.

• One and one-half million without water.

• Metro, trains, and airport shut down.

• 1.2 million buildings damaged.

• Economic losses estimated at $574 billion and deaths at 21,000.

ESTIMATES OF THE AMOUNT OF TSUNAMI TRASH

• According to official estimates, the 2011 tsunami washed about 5 million tons of debris into the ocean.

• About two-thirds of that quickly sank.

• The remainder was carried along the coast of Japan and then out into the Pacific Ocean

THE TSUNAMI RACED ACROSS THE PACIFIC

ACROSS THE PACIFIC

• --- The tsunami waves 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.

FOLLOWED BY A CONTINUUM OF TRASH ARRIVALS

• --- The trash from the March 11, 2011 tsunami began to reach the west coast of the USA in 2012 and 2013, creating new, complex, and unexpected ecological and environmental problems.

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT TSUNAMI TRASH

• Studies showed that items like fishing buoys that catch the wind easily eventually ended up on the western coast of North America, from Alaska to Oregon.

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT TSUNAMI TRASH

• Items like boats, docks and refrigerators that catch some wind, but are also influenced by currents, headed towards the same USA coasts, then on to Hawaii, and are now circling around Hawaii before continuing onward.

TSUNAMI TRASH ARRIVES IN OREGEN WITH LIFE ABOARD: 15 MONTHS LATER

DESCRIPTION OF THE DOCK THAT REACHED OREGON

• The dock ripped off a port in Japan was massive: A 188-ton, 20-meter long concrete, steel and styrofoam block, draped in streamers of seaweed and plastered with mussels, barnacles, crabs and more than 100 other marine organisms.

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT TSUNAMI TRASH

• Items like fishing nets and lines that move underwater were carried entirely by currents and are now ending up in the Pacific Garbage Patch, a sprawling vortex in the North Pacific where plastic and other trash collects.

• Some of this trash may eventually be carried back toward Japan.

THE TSUNAMI TRASH--- STILL TRAVELLING

• --- The trash from the March 11, 2011 tsunami is expected to continue arriving along the entire West Coast of North America during 2014.

• By 2016, it is estimated that the debris will return again to Hawaii, leaving little time for Hawaii’s beaches, reefs and wildlife to recover from the 2012 hit.

LESSONS LEARNED FOR TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE

• ALL TSUNAMIS.

• EARLY WARNING IS ESSENTIAL FOR TIMELY EVACUATION OF PEOPLE AND SHUTDOWN OF CRITICAL FACILITIES (E.G., NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS).

UNEXPECTED IMPACTS DO HAPPEN

• Radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility were 1,000 times normal levels.

FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR FACILITY HAD 3 FAILURES

LESSONS LEARNED: EMERGENCY LESSONS LEARNED: EMERGENCY RESPONSE CAN BECOME A NIGHTMARE! RESPONSE CAN BECOME 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 emergency response scenario” for the Government of Japan.

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.

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

• Approximately 50,000 members of Japan’s Self Defense Forces were mobilized immediately and sent to the hardest hit areas.

LESSONS LEARNED: SEARCH AND RESCUE CAN BE UNUSUALLY DIFFICULT

• With so many people (about 20,000) missing over a wide area after the tsunami, search and rescue was an unusually difficult, highly-stressed, and politically sensitive operation.

JAPAN’S SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAMS

• The Japanese top urban search and rescue teams, which had been helping in the search for Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake victims for two weeks, were ordered to return to Japan..

JAPAN’S SEARCH AND RESCUE

• Tokushu Kyuunan Tai, the search and rescue unit of Japan’s 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

All actions were conducted with knowledge of the high

risk associated with a significant radiation release

and the unthinkable possibility of a nuclear melt

down.

LESSONS LEARNED: THE “IMPOSSIBLE” MAY REALLY BE IMPOSSIBLE

• Search and rescue operations, evacuations, and humanitarian assistance on local and global scales were all slowed to a crawl by the possibility of a “nightmare nuclear disaster.”

69 COUNTRIES THAT PROMISED HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE COULD

NOT DELIVER BECAUSE OF THE PERCEIVED RISKS ASSOCIATED

WITH NUCLEAR RADIATION, THE BAD WEATHER, PROBLEMS ON THE GROUND, AND LACK OF FUEL

LESSONS LEARNED: MASS CARE CAN BORDER ON THE IMPOSSIBLE

• Shortages, closed roads, and lack of fuel made it very difficult to meet evacuee’s and survivors’ needs for food, water, electricity, medicine, and urgent healthcare.

LESSONS LEARNED: BE READY TO WORK AT THE LIMITS OF YOUR CAPABILITY

• Japan’s social, technical, administrative, political, legal, health care, and economic systems were tested to their limits by the socio-economic impacts of the tsunami, the radiation, and the harsh weather..

TOWARDS TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE

THE KEYS TO RESILIENCE: 1) KNOW THE TSUNAMIGENIC SOURCES

IN YOUR REGION,2) BE PREPARED

3) HAVE A WARNING SYSTEM 4) HAVE AN EVACUATION PLAN

5) ACCELERATE CAPACITY BUILDING BY LEARNING FROM

OTHERS’ EXPERIENCES

COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES

COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES

DATA 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•INVENTORY•VULNERABILITY•LOCATION

TSUNAMI RISK TSUNAMI RISK

RISK

ACCEPTABLE RISK

UNACCEPTABLE RISK

TSUNAMI DISASTER TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCERESILIENCE

•PREPAREDNESS•PROTECTION•FORECASTS/WARNINGS•EMERGENCY RESPONSE•RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION

POLICY OPTIONSPOLICY OPTIONS

CREATING TURNING POINTS FOR TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE

USING EDUCATIONAL SURGES CONTAINING THE PAST AND PRESENT LESSONS TO FOSTER AND ACCELERATE THE CREATION OF TURNING

POINTS

LESSONS LEARNED FOR TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE

• ALL TSUNAMIS• CAPACITY

BUILDING FOR TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE IS NEVER FINISHED.

2014--2020 2014--2020 ISIS A GOOD TIME A GOOD TIME

FOR A GLOBAL SURGE IN FOR A GLOBAL SURGE IN EDUCATIONALEDUCATIONAL, , TECHNICAL, HEALTH TECHNICAL, HEALTH

CARE, AND POLITICAL CAPACITY CARE, AND POLITICAL CAPACITY BUILDINGBUILDING

IN ALL FIVE PILLARS OF COMMUNITY IN ALL FIVE PILLARS OF COMMUNITY

DISASTERDISASTER RESILIENCE RESILIENCE

CREATING TURNING POINTS FOR TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE

INTEGRATION OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS WITH POLITICAL

SOLUTIONS FOR POLICIES ON PREPAREDNESS, PROTECTION, EARLY WARNING, EVACUATION, EMERGENCY

RESPONSE, COPING WITH TSUNAMI TRASH, AND RECOVERY

INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS CONSIDERATIONS

INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS CONSIDERATIONS

THE KNOWLEDGE BASE

Best Practices for Mitigation Adaptation and Monitoring

Gateways to a Deeper Understanding

Real and Near- Real Time Monitoring

Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk Characterization

Anticipatory Actions for all Events and Situations

Situation Data Bases

Interfaces with all Real- and Near Real-Time Sources

Cause & Effect Relationships

APPLICATIONS

Implement Modern Codes and Lifeline Standards

Relocation/Protection of Offshore Facilitiess

Create a Hazard Zonation Map as a Policy Tool

Introduce New Technologies

Move Towards A Disaster Intelligent Community

EDUCATIONAL SURGES

Involve Multiple Partners in Turning Point Surges

Enlighten Communities on Their Risks

Build Strategic Equity Through Disaster Scenarios

Multiply Capability by International Twinning

Update Knowledge Bases After Each Disaster

OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: For Disaster Resilience on local, For Disaster Resilience on local, regional, national, and global scalesregional, national, and global scales

OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: For Disaster Resilience on local, For Disaster Resilience on local, regional, national, and global scalesregional, national, and global scales