For those who live in tornado country (including cities in Massachusetts), the need for a storm shelter or safe room should be a major consideration during the reconstruction phase. Here is the location of some details from FEMA on this site.
Image by Kevin Krejci via Flickr
This Japan Earthquake Report was written by a British private firm. It is 38 pages. The subtitle is “A Preliminary Briefing on the Japanese Government’s Disaster Response Management.”
The events in Japan in March 2011, involving an earthquake and subsequent tsunami, fell exactly within the risk profile of Japan’s disaster management programme, and there were no contributing factors to the disaster that couldnot or should not have been predicted and accounted for.The failures in disaster response management came about through systemic weaknesses that were entirely predictable, and had been identified in previous similar events, including the 1995 Kobe-Hanshin earthquake.The systemic failures of the Japanese government and disaster management system were not unique to Japan. They reflect almost completely the same weaknesses that were identified in America following Hurricane Katrina and9/11.Japan’s planning and construction laws have clearly made a difference to the ability of large buildings to survive even major earthquakes, and this can be seen as a major success in their long-term earthquake management policy.Despite the fact that individual agencies have developed a high-level of expertise and capability (and often have world-class equipment and technology unavailable to other countries, including US), Japan still lacks a unified Disaster Management framework that allows the swift mobilisation of separate agencies under a unified operational command.There needs to be a clear distinction made between ‘Major Incidents’ and ‘National Disasters’. They require a different class of response, and as one USFEMA commentator noted, it is no use responding to a Class 5 Disaster with Class 1 frameworks.Failures at the tactical and operational level were reflected in, and in many ways caused by, a lack of leadership at the political level. Disaster management on a national level is a political issue, and responsibility for that needs to be accepted by national political leaders, whether in terms of long-term capability preparation or in the immediate post-incident response.Despite these failures, there is a clearly-defined development road-map that would allow Japan to use its existing technical, personnel and organisation and lresources to create an appropriate, effective and integrated unified Disaster Management framework.None of the points above are new or unknown. They reflect almost completely the conclusions reached following the 1995 Kobe-Hanshin earthquake and the Hurricane Katrina….
Image via Wikipedia
Interesting array of data and charts from NOAA, showing big ticket weather disasters, to date.
Image via Wikipedia
The reasoning in this article is compelling, in my view. See: The Politics of Earthquakes; Too many countries are playing Russian roulette when it comes to seismic risk. LATimes, July 24, 2011.
Seismic risk mitigation is the greatest urban policy challenge the world confronts today. If you consider that too strong a claim, try to imagine another way in which bad urban policy could kill a million people in 30 seconds. Yet the politics of earthquakes are rarely discussed and, when discussed, widely misunderstood.
Take Japan’s Sendai earthquake on March 11, which released 600 million times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. The ensuing partial meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclearpower plant prompted international hysteria about nuclear power, but few seemed to realize that a far deadlier threat had been averted. As seismologist Roger Bilham aptlyput it, houses in seismically active zones are the world’s unrecognized weapons of mass destruction — and Japan’s WMD didn’t go off. Its buildings — at least those that weren’t swept away by the accompanying tsunami, a force of nature against which we are still largely helpless — remained standing, and the people inside survived.
That so few buildings collapsed in the earthquake was a human triumph of the first order. But cities around the world seem happy to ignore the earthquake threat — one thatis only growing as the cities themselves get bigger and bigger.
Image via Wikipedia
It is understandable and predictable that victims of the N.Z. earthquakes are getting impatient with the recovery process. Similar concerns have been expressed in Japan as well, lately. See this article detailing the N.Z. situation: New Zealand’s Christchurch still on knees from quakes.
The once-bustling business district here resembles a wasteland. Along the closed, empty streets lie piles of bricks and steel. Handmade signs hang on the fencing that marks off a large stretch of the city center. “Welcome to Limboland,” says one. Another asks, “When is the recovery starting?”
Damaged buildings in Christchurch, New Zealand, remain abandoned. The aftershocks of February’s earthquake have not only caused deaths but also hindered rebuilding efforts.
The magnitude-7.1 earthquake that hit Christchurch 10 months ago did not directly cause a single death. But there have been more than 7,300 aftershocks, including an especially bad one in February that killed 181 people. The repeated shaking has knocked the city, New Zealand’s second largest, to its knees and kept it there, repeatedly frustrating efforts to get the rebuilding started.
Image by Elif Ayiter/Alpha Auer/…./ via Flickr
About one-half of the U.S. is in the grip of a huge heat wave. According to CNN, new heat records were set in 55 cities today.
Here’s some information about heat waves, with advice to stay safe.
I am back on duty, having attended the Natural Hazards Conference in Broomfield, CO, sponsored by the Univ. of Colorado at Boulder. For details about the conference and sessions there, go to their conference website. For those interested in the activities of that center, they have two free information products: a bi-monthly publication called the Hazards Observer and a periodic electronic newsletter.
Re the N.Z. earthquake, even Lloyds of London, a major reinsurance co. worldwide, is shocked at the extent of the damage in Christchurch, N.Z. according to this newsclip on July 19.
Next week the Diva will be attending the annual Natural Hazards Conference. During that time she welcomes comments from readers on this new idea:
Under consideration is a mentoring, tutoring, and advisory service, to be led by the Diva and experienced colleagues. Please write in and share your views on the need and value of such a service to you.
The proposed services would:
Let us know if you would be interested in obtaining such assistance, which would be provided on a hourly fee-for service basis.
No one sensible ever said recovery planning was easy. Japan Rebuilding Is Facing Delays.,Wall St. Journal, July 4. Some details about the difficulties in Japan re the massive reconstruction effort needed there:
The head of Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s reconstruction council said it is unlikely that any of the large-scale rebuilding efforts recommended by the panel will be implemented until the end of the year at the earliest, underscoring how the political impasse in Tokyo is stalling the rebuilding of Japan’s devastated northeast region.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Friday, Makoto Iokibe, head of the panel, said the continued political battles in Japan’s parliament will mean postponing a massive reconstruction process already expected to take more than a decade.
As of July 5th, the newly appointed reconstruction minister quit his position. A new appointee has already been named.
From the Christian Science Monitor on July 7th: Japan Recovery From Tsunami Stalls.
Rigid bureaucracy, the scope of devastation, and a lack of financing are hindering Japan’s comeback from the March earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Some citizens are taking recovery into their own hands.
Image by JasonDGreat via Flickr
From Iowa State University Extension, a useful list of resources for helping children cope with the aftermath of disasters. July 1, 2011.
Recovery Diva 