Japanese disaster history has three turning points. The first is the Typhoon Isewan (Vera) in 1959. The second is the Kobe earthquake disaster in 1995, the third is the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) disaster in 2011. After the Typhoon Isewan, disaster countermeasures* basic act was enacted in 1961. The act combined many disasters related laws into one. This act is always updated after disasters. The Kobe earthquake facilitated volunteer activities. Many social scientists started to investigate disasters. Before the disaster, natural scientists and engineers are the main players to do disaster-related research along with Japanese infrastructure centered policies. We have noticed we can not prevent disasters, but we can mitigate disasters after Kobe. The GEJET disaster became the worst ever disaster in Japan after the second world war. Japan had confidence before the disaster because we had two major disaster experience and polished hard and soft countermeasures.
The GEJET broke confidence and reconsider our strategies.
…………………………………..to be continued
*Disaster countermeasures basic act:
http://www.preventionweb.net/english/policies/v.php?id=30940&cid=87
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Tadashi NAKASU
