Transcript lessons learned from past notable disasters. japan. part 1b

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
COMMUNITIES AT RISK
EARTHQUAKES/TSUNAMIS
GOAL: DISASTER
RESILIENCE
ENACT AND IMPLEMENT
POLICIES HAVING HIGH
BENEFIT/COST FOR
COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
TYPHOONS
FLOODS
LANDSLIDES
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
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
TSUNAMI RISK
•TSUNAMI HAZARDS
•PEOPLE AND BLDGS.
•VULNERABILITY
•LOCATION
DATA BASES
AND INFORMATION
ACCEPTABLE RISK
RISK
UNACCEPTABLE RISK
JAPAN’S
COMMUNITIES
GOAL: TSUNAMI
DISASTER RESILIENCE
POLICY OPTIONS
HAZARDS:
GROUND SHAKING
GROUND FAILURE
SURFACE FAULTING
TECTONIC DEFORMATION
TSUNAMI RUN UP
AFTERSHOCKS
• PREPAREDNESS
•PROTECTION
•EARLY WARNING
•EMERGENCY RESPONSE
•RECOVERY and
RECONSTRUCTION
CAUSES
OF
DAMAGE
INADEQUATE RESISTANCE TO
HORIZONTAL GROUND SHAKING
SOIL AMPLIFICATION
PERMANENT DISPLACEMENT
(SURFACE FAULTING & GROUND
FAILURE)
EARTHQUAKES
“DISASTER
LABORATORIES”
IRREGULARITIES IN ELEVATION
AND PLAN
TSUNAMI WAVE RUNUP
POOR DETAILING AND WEAK
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
FRAGILITY OF NON-STRUCTURAL
ELEMENTS
CAUSES
OF
DAMAGE
HIGH VELOCITY IMPACT OF
INCOMING WAVES
INLAND DISTANCE OF WAVE
RUNUP
VERTICAL HEIGHT OF WAVE
RUNUP
TSUNAMIS
“DISASTER
LABORATORIES”
INADEQUATE RESISTANCE OF
BUILDINGS
FLOODING
INADEQUATE HORIZONTAL
AND VERTICAL EVACUATION
PROXIMITY TO SOURCE OF
TSUNAMI
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
DISASTER RESILIENCE
• ALL TSUNAMIS.
• DISASTERINTELLIGENT
COMMUNITIES USE
TIMELY EARLY
WARNING BASED ON
CRITICAL INFORMATION 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 Pand 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 1020 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--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 postdisaster 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.