Planning against Earthquakes in the United States and Japan

Abstract

Comprehensive earthquake disaster preparedness planning encompasses two distinct but related elements: emergency planning and hazard mitigation. A comparison of U.S. and Japanese earthquake disaster planning processes shows a major contrast in approach. The U.S. approach is based on legislation that loosely defines issues, but has no clear management structure. Japanese planning established a clear relationship between research, planning, and operations, and is strongly administered by central government which provides methodologies and assistance to lower governmental levels. However, neither the U.S. nor Japan procedures have yet been tested by a major event. The U.S. approach relies extensively on improvisation, and limited experience shows that this may be relatively effective: Japanese planning may be too fragile in relying too much on centralized management and communications.