Investigating rural community behaviour after the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake: a case study of Kawaguchi town, Japan

M Gismondi

doi:10.5194/sgd-7-39-2011

Abstract

Investigating rural community behaviour after the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake: a case study of Kawaguchi town, Japan

Highlights

Earthquake engineering research and hazard mitigation has advanced in recent years, the pace of economic development and urbanisation has increased the risk from earthquakes and resulted in exposing more of the world’s population to earthquakes (Tucker et al, 1994)
Many studies have noted that individualism and collectivism are often coincident 25 with modern and traditional social conditions, respectively (Kagitcibasi, 1997; Kashima, 2001; Oyserman et al, 2002)
Due to economic and political interests, urban areas benefit from policies and technological improvements aimed at preventing damage from earthquakes; remote areas are more vulnerable, due to the lack of awareness, 10 policies, earthquake-resistant construction and anti-seismic evaluations (Matsushita et al, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

The Japanese government has developed several national policies within the last 50 yr to 10 address such events, such as the Disaster Relief Act (1947), the Countermeasures Basic Act (1961) and the Earthquake Disaster Management Special Measure Act (1995). These policies focus on decentralising and localising emergency operations in disasters. Diverse but interlocking social roles, including different types of occupations such as agricultural activities and services for the local community, all serve to maintain a collective lifestyle (Baumeister, 1986 and 1987). Due to economic and political interests, urban areas benefit from policies and technological improvements aimed at preventing damage from earthquakes; remote areas are more vulnerable, due to the lack of awareness, 10 policies, earthquake-resistant construction and anti-seismic evaluations (Matsushita et al, 2008)

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Conclusion