Amazing pictures of the massive debris that collected in Japan post disasters. Too bad the article did not say more about how they did it and where they put it. The sheer volume of the debris is mindboggling. Sept. 8,2011.
One of the reasons I often report on the NZ earthquake efforts is that they provide a useful frame of reference for U.S. and other recovery planners. It reminds us of what enormous efforts are needed to manage tens of thousands of housing units and other structures after a major earthquake. See this article in the Sidney (Australia) Morning Herald, Sept. 5. NZ quake plan will save 10,000 homes.
Almost 10,000 earthquake-hit Christchurch homes have been saved from demolition in a draft recovery plan for the southern New Zealand city.
The long term strategy, which was released on Monday following a four-hour cabinet meeting in Christchurch, covers all aspects of the city’s $NZ25 billion ($A20.07 billion) rebuild.
Its release marks the anniversary of the first of a series of earthquakes that devastated parts of the city, beginning on September 4 last year.
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NOTE: This article is getting a lot of hits in 2015 and I am wondering who is reading it and why. Would someone let me know, please. Just put a note in the Comments section at the end of the article.
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This is an interesting discussion of some indirect effects of the recent Japanese disasters, aspects that I have never seen noted before. It is an important reminder that intellectual property matters deserve serious consideration. In the U.S. we too have advanced research being conducted in place that are known to have seismic risks, such as Silicon Valley CA and Boston MA have known seismic risks.
The article Brain Drain and Need for New Infrastructure Loom as Challenges to Post-Quake Japan appeared in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News, August 9, 2011.
The numbers stagger the imagination: 15,683 people lost their lives in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, while another 4,830 people remain missing… Japan’s life science community did not escape unscathed from the twin natural disasters. The earthquake and tsunami brought to a halt research at Japan’s academic and independent institutions and companies. In nearly all cases, though, by now, some five months after the disasters, the institutions involved have either resumed or are close to resuming near-normal operation.
The disasters have forced the government to delay releasing an updated Science and Technology Basic Policy Report for the five years ending in 2016. This would be Japan’s fourth effort at a five-year plan for growing these industries.
Some of the Lessons to be Learned include:
If there’s anything good that could come from the disaster, it is the focus placed by institutions across Japan on drawing lessons that could help future generations avoid the worst effects of another disaster. One of Dr. Miyata’s lessons include distinguishing between valuable intellectual assets that cannot be obtained elsewhere and preserving these first rather than lab equipment, which can be re-purchased.
Another lesson calls for institutions to maintain their own sources of electricity, at least for preserving intellectual assets. Still other lessons include organizing food and living necessities for emergencies, developing leadership and governance policies with the cooperation of faculty and staff, forwarding accurate information quickly to staffers, and agreeing to implement emergency plans quickly as need arises.
As Japan’s life science community continues to return to close-to-normal operations, two of the numerous challenges resulting from the disasters will require urgent attention: repatriating researchers who left immediately following the worst, and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure with greater resistance to as well as forewarning of earthquakes and tsunamis. If these are not covered by the five-year science and technology plan to come out later this month, they should be addressed as soon after as possible.
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….
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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.
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.
In Time magazine, June 24. Rebuilding Japan. A very candid assessment by a Japanese former newspaper editor. Some excerpts are provided below:
The earthquake of March 11, 2011, changed the geography of Japan — literally. Digital maps and GPS devices are likely to deviate by more than 5 m as a result. Beyond this geological shift, aftershocks from the earthquake are reverberating across many dimensions of Japanese life, creating upheaval in our politics, economy, social institutions and foreign relations. In ways many Japanese never before experienced, our national spirit has been shaken.
Throughout Japanese history, seismic disasters have often seemed to mark the dramatic end of an era. The momentous question now is what sort of change the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake will delineate. Japan can no longer afford the delusions of “graceful decline” or “small is beautiful” — notions that appealed to many prior to March 11. Our choice is rebirth or ruin. (See Japan’s history of massive earthquakes.)
Unfathomable losses are the most immediate consequence of the earthquake and tsunami. Some are at least measurable, or will be in the foreseeable future — in particular, the toll in lost lives, vanished communities and destroyed property. But the losses are intangible as well. The compound crisis of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency has shattered Japan’s image as a land of safety and security. Instead of viewing Japan as a haven of immunity from danger and inconvenience, many around the world now perceive the country as fraught with peril and discomfort. This perception is certain to have an effect on foreign investment and the nation’s appeal as a destination for tourists.
Another consequence of the disaster is a crisis of trust. The government has performed inadequately in sharing information with the Japanese public as well as the rest of the world. Unfortunately, Japan’s ineptness in communication and global literacy is a long-standing problem. More fundamental in this regard is the exposure of the too cozy relationship between an elite cadre at Tokyo Electric Power Company and officials at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The lack of transparency and accountability has undermined faith in Japan’s ability to manage risks properly and effectively.
On a more positive note is this article about volunteers who are helping with the cleanup in Japan; from Telegraph (UK), on June 30.
Here are two news accounts of the planned buyout — probably the largest ever done after earthquakes. The first one is from the Daily Mail (UK): Thousands to be paid to leave homes hit by New Zealand earthquake as total cost of catastrophe hits £9.4bn
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announces the government will pay homeowners to leave . New Zealand’s government has offered to pay thousands of homeowners to leave areas of the country’s second-largest city hardest hit by recent earthquakes.
Christchurch was struck by a magnitude-7.1 earthquake in September and a devastating magnitude-6.3 quake in February that killed 181 people and crippled much of the city. The government said it has offered to pay about 5,000 Christchurch homeowners to leave and have their homes razed, with certain swathes of land remaining too unstable for rebuilding.
The future of an additional 10,000 homes, many of which may also need to be destroyed, is still being assessed. The government estimated the cost of moving the first 5,000 homeowners at up to £312 million
The second source is ABC News in Australia: NZ govt to buy back homes in earthquake zone
Here was some relief today for residents of the earthquake shattered city of Christchurch in New Zealand. The government announced that it would buy back thousands of homes on land too unstable for rebuilding.
It’s part of a plan to move residents and bulldoze homes in areas hardest hit by recent earthquakes. The government says it’s assessing the future of another 10,000 homes, many of which may also be too costly and time consuming to repair.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Christchurch in September and a devastating 6.3 quake in February. One-hundred-and-eighty-one people died and large aftershocks have continued to rattle the city.
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Quake knocks Japan into recession. From Reuters, May 19.
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Debris, challenges pile up in Japan 1 month later. AP, April 11. This is a candid, gritty account of what recovery tasks are ahead for the Japanese.
A month after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, the challenges seem as daunting as ever: Thousands are missing and feared dead, tens of thousands have fled their homes, a leaking nuclear plant remains crippled and powerful aftershocks keep coming. Vast tracts of the northeast are demolition sites: The stuff of entire cities is sorted into piles taller than three-story buildings around which dump trucks and earth-movers crawl. Ankle-deep water stagnates in streets, and massive fishing boats lie perched atop pancaked houses and cars. The occasional telephone poll or bulldozer is sometimes the only skyline.
“It’s a hellish sorrow,” said Numata Takahashi, 56, who escaped his home in Natori just before the waters came. “I don’t know where we’ll go, but I’m not coming back here. … We’ll go somewhere where there are no tsunamis.”
Two strong aftershocks have killed people and sunk thousands more households into darkness, while also delaying progress on restoring power to those in darkness since March 11. Facing the prospect of massive shortfalls in the hot summer months, the government is asking companies to cut their consumption drastically or face mandatory energy caps. Over this destruction and deprivation, the fear of radiation hangs. The tsunami knocked out power at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and reactors have been overheating since.
Progress in stabilizing the complex comes slowly most days, or not at all, as the new tremors and radiation repeatedly halt work. Monday’s aftershock briefly cut electricity to the plant and halted work while technicians took cover, but did not endanger operations, according to officials.
All the more reason for doing some recovery planning pre-event; and of course more recovery planning afterwards, when the specifics of the destruction are known.
Recovery Diva 