Abstract
A destructive earthquake struck the Kobe region on January 17, 1995, and a massive earthquake and tsunami struck eastern Japan on March 11, 2011. We present an overview of the casualty aspects of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake compared with those of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. In the Tohoku disaster, some water gates and seawalls saved some villages from the tsunami effects, though some did not. Based on these examples, we discuss the efficiency of soft and hard measures and consider their respective merits and demerits. The main causes of death in the Kobe and Tohoku EQs were, respectively, collapsing buildings and drowning in the tsunami. Although the time to death was very short in both cases, people often have more time to evacuate in the case of an interplate earthquake leading to a tsunami. Basic countermeasures against tsunamis include such hard measures as water gates, seawalls, and embankments. Soft measures need to be implemented in areas where hard measures are insufficient
Highlights
A massive interplate earthquake struck eastern Japan on March 11, 2011
In the Kobe earthquake (Kobe EQ), as noted, most ofthe victims were killed by collapsed houses (Fig. 5), which falls in the category of mode 1, and those deaths occurred in buildings that predated the code revisions (Fig. 3)
Hard measures are effective for preventing damage caused by tremors; soft and hard measures should be adopted for a tsunami disaster by efficiently using the available time
Summary
A massive interplate earthquake struck eastern Japan on March 11, 2011. A moment magnitude, MW, of 9.0 and maximum seismic intensity of 7 were recorded in the city of Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture. Damage caused by shaking buildings was observed throughout the Tohoku region, but there was a remarkable lack of major damage beyond the run-up area. Areas of coastal local railway were destroyed at several locations by the tsunami and were out of service for several months or more. Traffic congestion occurred just after the earthquake, though cell towers and services were soon restored. Ports sustained heavy damage as a result of the tsunami, quayside areas through ground liquefaction. In the Tohoku disaster, some water gates and seawalls saved some villages from the tsunami effects, though some did not. Based on these examples, we discuss the efficiency of soft and hard measures and consider their respective merits and demerits
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