Journal Of Disaster Research Research Articles

Special Issue on the 100th Anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake

On September 1, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck the Tokyo metropolitan area of Japan. It was an extremely powerful earthquake that caused a great fire. The death toll reached approximately 105,000, and the economic loss is estimated to have exceeded 30% of the Japanese gross national product at that time. For September 2023, the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) has planned a special issue to commemorate 100 years since the Great Kanto Earthquake. While previous special issues by the JDR have focused on specific disasters, this special issue will focus on the lessons and findings from the catastrophe and will cover even the progress of disaster research since then. We received fourteen important and thought-provoking manuscripts not only on scientific and engineering aspects but also on social and cultural aspects, including comparisons with other disasters, historical views, reconstruction issues, and future perspectives. These fourteen articles can be categorized into the three groups described below. The first four articles are the English translations of articles that originally appeared in “Koho Bosai,” the bimonthly journal on natural disaster reduction that is complied and published by the Disaster Management Section, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. The JDR believes that these four articles provide a concise English description of various aspects of the Great Kanto Earthquake disasters. Dr. Takemura summarizes the seismic features of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake. Dr. Sekizawa summarizes the large scale urban fires that it caused. Dr. Suzuki describes various aspects of the emergency responses. Dr. Murosaki details the recovery project in Tokyo. Those articles discussed various lessons learned from the 1923 Kanto Earthquake and emphasized the importance of transferring the lessons toward future disaster mitigation. The next six papers were originally works studying various aspects of the Great Kanto Earthquake disasters. Dr. Midorikawa reviews the strong ground motion of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake. Dr. Kaneko evaluates the resulting tsunami. Mr. Mammen sheds new light on the relationship between Charles A. Beard and Goto Shinpei in terms of the recovery. Dr. Albini studies the voices of foreign residents who left impressive disaster processes at that time. Dr. Murao reviews the urbanization of Tokyo after the Kanto Earthquake. Dr. Shima studies the response of the Tokyo Electric Light Company, Inc. to the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. The last four papers are works on various aspects of disaster risk reduction, but all of these works were inspired by the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake in one way or another. Dr. Shaw provides a framework for repositioning earthquake risk reduction. Dr. Shimbo explores the Phase Free Concept. Dr. Shoji focuses on the possibility of Medium-Wave AM Radio Broadcasting. Dr. Yamaguchi studies the Risk Communication Method. The Editorial Board of the JDR thanks all of these contributors and hopes that these articles serve as great sources for further research in disaster risk reduction.

Presenting the MURAKAMI Suminao Award 2022

It is our great pleasure to present the MURAKAMI Suminao Award to Prof. Hideaki Karaki. Professor Karaki has made outstanding contributions to the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) as an important member of the JDR editorial board for a long time. He is Professor Emeritus, in the Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, at The University of Tokyo, and he is a former president of Foundation of Food Safety and Security. His major contributions to the JDR have been in the area of medical disasters such as infectious disease pandemics. The JDR covers various kinds of disasters, both natural and man-made, such as geological, hydrological, or microbial disasters, and medical or infectious disease disasters are also important to mention. His excellent manuscripts have also been in the JDR. Furthermore, he has comprehensive knowledge of various fields in addition to his field of specialization. He has had a long career as an editor of the JDR, and his opinions in editorial meetings have always been valuable. Thus, his contributions to the JDR make him very deserving of the MURAKAMI Suminao Award. I wish to thank to Professor Karaki for his contributions and to congratulate him as the winner of the Award.

Message from the Winner

We are very honored to receive the JDR Award for the Most Downloaded Article 2022, a new award from the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR). After the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake, it is now said that a magnitude 9-class earthquake could occur in the Nankai Trough, and it is necessary for us to know how strong ground motion (shaking) we will experience during such a great earthquake in order to take countermeasures. In this paper, we developed a new seismic motion prediction model that is applicable to M9-class earthquakes. We did this by adding the strong-motion records of the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake to the many records accumulated by various organizations since the 1950s. We would like to express our gratitude to all the organizations that provided us with their valuable records. Nearly 10 years have passed since the publication of the paper, and the records accumulated during that time have helped us to recognize the usefulness of our proposed model. We understand that our paper is still being downloaded in large numbers today and that our model is now being used not only in research but also in practice. As natural disasters occur more frequently in Japan and around the world, we hope that JDR will continue to grow and develop as an international source of useful knowledge on natural disasters.

Special Issue on COVID-19 and Historical Pandemics Part 3

Three years have passed since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China. The pandemic rapidly spread worldwide, especially through Europe and the Americas. The Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) edited its “Special Issue on COVID-19 and Historical Pandemics, Part 1 and Part 2” at the end of 2020 and 2021, and their electronic versions were published in January 2021 (JDR Vol.16, No.1, pp. 1-117) and January 2022 (JDR Vol.17, No.1, pp. 1-158), respectively. However, the pandemic is still continued and not yet eradicated. The cumulative number of cases of COVID-19 worldwide, as released in the World Health Organization (WHO) Weekly Epidemiological Update was 260 million as of December 2021. We therefore planned for the publication of this Special Issue Part 3 and called for papers. This Special Issue Part 3 includes nine manuscripts, which deal from various fields related to COVID-19, such as including vaccine rollout program, the role of social media, problems in school education, therapeutic agents, virology, and general epidemiology. This suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic is a complicated disaster. In December 2022, the global number of cumulative cases have increased to 940 million, almost one-tenth of the world’s population, although this number includes many asymptomatic infections. On the contrary, the number of new COVID-19 cases has slowed of mildness in the American and European countries in the year 2022, yet there has been a conspicuous increase in newly reported cases in Asia, especially in the Republic of Korea and Japan. Although the cases from African countries have still continued to report fewer numbers of cases than the number from other areas, However, there is still some possibility of that this is because of a lower number of medicinal tests, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, are given in African countries. If this is the reason, future increases of the medicinal tests in Africa may cause result in undesirable increases of in the number of cases therein African counties. We are hopeful that the COVID-19 pandemic will be eradicated in the next year, consequently no necessary for the rendering a Special Issue Part 4.

Special Issue on COVID-19 and Historical Pandemics Part 2

COVID-19, which originated in Wuhan, China, 2 years ago, became a pandemic, that continues to this day. The Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) edited a special issue, “Special Issue on COVID-19 and Historical Pandemics” at the end of 2020 and an electronic version of the issue was published in January 2021 (JDR Vol.16, No.1, pp. 1-117). Even though one year has passed, life has not yet returned to normal due to the continued spread of COVID-19. Although the percentage of the general public that has been vaccinated continues to increase and various drugs and treatments have been developed, the number of COVID-19 cases also continues to increase. A huge number of COVID-19 cases have been reported, especially in Europe and the Americas. Accordingly, we planned to publish Special Issue Part 2 and called for papers. This Special Issue Part 2 includes 18 manuscripts, which deal with general epidemiology, effects on socioeconomic or educational areas, and clinical medicine, including vaccines and medical treatments. The virus spike protein plays an important role in its intrusion into human cells and the onset of COVID-19 infection. Although SARS-CoV-2 (the pathogenic virus of COVID-19) originated in Wuhan, China, various variant strains with mutation in gene coding in the spike protein have appeared in multiple countries. The WHO classifies these variants into the categories of VOC (variant of concern), VOI (variant of interest), or VUM (variant under monitoring). The definitions of VOC and VOI are as follows. VOC: “A SARS-CoV-2 variant that meets the definition of a VOI and, through a comparative assessment, has been demonstrated to be associated with one or more changes in the degree of global public health significance.” VOI: “Increase in transmissibility or detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation, or decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.” The WHO uses Greek letters designating the variants. Accordingly as they have appeared, variants have been designated as alpha (α: the UK variant), beta (β: the South Africa variant), and delta (δ: the Indian variant). After the deadline for the manuscript of this special issue, a new variant, omicron (o) originated in South Africa and Botswana, and it immediately began spreading worldwide. Unfortunately, it was impossible to include the manuscript on the omicron variant in this Special Issue Part 2, as the deadline had already passed. As COVID-19 continues to spread, the JDR will plan to edit Part 3 of this COVID-19 special issue.

Towards the Next Stage of the Journal of Disaster Research

In the year 2021, the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) had two memorable events: Professor MURAKAMI Suminao, one of the founders of the Journal, resigned as the editor-in-chief, and in February the JDR marked its hundredth issue, counting from Vol.1 No.1. These events gave us, the next generation of the editorial board members, the resolve to reinvent the JDR for its leap forward into the next stage. We have accomplished the following two projects this year. Establishment of MURAKAMI Suminao Award for Disaster Research and the JDR annual awards To acknowledge Professor MURAKAMI’s significant contributions to the JDR and disaster research in general, we rename the JDR Award to the MURAKAMI Suminao Award for Disaster Research. While we present this award to the person who has made the most significant contribution to disaster research as a whole, we hereby establish three more specific JDR annual awards: the JDR Award for the Most Cited Paper, the JDR Award for the Most Downloaded Article, and the JDR Award for the Most Contributory Reviewer. Applying the Creative Commons license The JDR introduced the Creative Commons license in August 2021, thereby becoming a fully open-access journal conforming to the international standard. This project makes all articles in the JDR easier to reuse and cite in academic activities. Now the JDR is widely known not only in Japan but also all across Asia, and its readership is spreading through North America and Europe. We will continue to strive for the further development of the JDR as an international journal dedicated to comprehensive disaster research.

Presenting the Seventh JDR Award

On behalf of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), it is my great honor and pleasure to present the 2021 JDR Award to Prof. and Dr. Suminao Murakami, or “Murakami Sensei.” Murakami Sensei has served as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the JDR for the past 16 years, since 2006. The JDR has now published more than 100 issues, becoming recognized as the leading Japan-based, international online peer-review journal on disaster risk reduction for all hazards except war, and Murakami Sensei has always been its greatest contributor. The Editorial Board reluctantly respected Murakami Sensei’s decision to resign from the position of Editor-in-Chief, but it has unanimously agreed to rename the JDR Award to the MURAKAMI Suminao Award for Disaster Research from 2022 on. The Journal of Disaster Research will continue its best efforts “to reduce the horrors of disaster through information,” as Murakami Sensei and Takiguchi Sensei wrote in the Message from the Editors-in-Chief in the first issue of the JDR.

Special Issue on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Part VI – Thoughts About the Great Disaster Now That Ten Years Have Passed –

A holistic and comprehensive perspective on society is essential to disaster research. However, at one time, the world did not have any scholarly journals that dealt with disasters from a holistic point of view. This situation gave rise to the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), the first issue of which was published in August 2006. In principle, six issues are published annually, with special or extra issues also published in some years. The Great East Japan Earthquake struck in March 2011, five years after the first issue of the JDR. Following this incident, we decided to publish a special issue whenever there was a major disaster. All accepted papers and articles were to be published free of charge, in electronic format. So far, eight special issues have been published. Since this year 2021 marks the tenth anniversary of that disaster, we at the JDR have decided to publish a special issue of notes on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster. The selected theme is “Thoughts About the Great Disaster Now That Ten Years Have Passed.” As an academic journal dealing comprehensively with disasters and disaster risk reduction, we asked people working in all disaster-related fields to submit, from their unique perspectives, their views or proposals in any area or subject regarding what changes have taken place, what has remained the same, or what is needed in the future. We have the twelve notes presented here in this Special Issue on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Part VI. We hope that these notes provide seeds for further progress in the field of disaster research. Lastly, the editors would like to thank all contributors who submitted their manuscripts and the reviewers who provided valuable feedback with their constructive comments.

Special Issue on the Second World Bosai Forum

The World Bosai Forum/International Disaster Risk Conference@Sendai 2019 (WBF2019) held in November 2019 in Sendai City, Japan, was successful in bringing together actors from multiple sectors to advance the goals of disaster risk reduction (DRR). We would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who participated in the sessions, exhibitions, poster sessions, and mini-presentations, as well as to the many local people who came to the event. According to the World Bosai Forum [1], 871 participants from 38 countries attended the WBF2019 which included 50 oral sessions, 3 keynote speeches, 47 poster sessions, 33 mini-presentations, and 14 exhibition booths, which contributed to deepening the discussion and promotion of the “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015–2030” (SFDRR) and in particular progress towards the achievement of Global Target E, to substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020. Including lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, local knowledge and solutions towards advancing BOSAI were actively shared and discussed among the participants who joined this global forum, from various organizations and sectors. In particular, there were many sessions in which young people and private companies played a key role. The guest editors are pleased to publish this special issue of the Journal of Disaster Research, which is comprised of 13 articles sharing the research advancements presented at the WBF2019. We hope that this special issue on the WBF2019 will contribute to the literature on disaster science and further advances in disaster risk reduction.

Presenting the Fifth JDR Award

It is our great pleasure to present the fifth JDR Award to Dr. Yuichiro Usuda. Dr. Usuda has made outstanding contributions to the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) as the guest editor and the author of the JDR’s “Special Issue on NIED Frontier Researches on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2017” in Vol.12 No.5, which has been the most downloaded special issue for the past three years. Dr. Usuda is a leading scientist in frontier research for natural disaster risk management and resilience in National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED). He is working with researchers of many different disciplines as well as stake-holders in practical devastating disaster management situations. Thus, in his studies, he has been integrating many different disciplines to generate a new intellectual paradigm for managing multi-hazard disasters, such as earthquake disasters combined with meteorological disasters caused by rain, drought, snow, extreme heat or cold, ice, or wind. This is quite important in Japan and other disaster-prone countries, considering today’s global climate change. The special issue is the fruit of his research efforts. On behalf of the JDR editorial board, I wish to thank Dr. Yuichiro Usuda for his efforts and to congratulate him as the winner of the fifth JDR Award.

Regarding Revoke of the Paper “A Distributed Autonomous Approach to Developing a Disaster Evacuation Assist System,” Published in the JDR

As an issue was raised with respect to the following paper published in the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), we conducted an investigation. A) Paper published in the JDR Yasuki Iizuka, Katsuya Kinoshita, and Kayo Iizuka, “A Distributed Autonomous Approach to Developing a Disaster Evacuation Assist System,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.10, No.6, pp. 1081-1090, 2015. (Received: July 31, 2015, Accepted: October 21, 2015, Published: December 1, 2015) B) Paper compared Yasuki IIZUKA, Katsuya KINOSHITA, Kayo IIZUKA, “Agent Based Disaster Evacuation Assistance System,” Information Engineering Express International Journal, Vol.1, No.2, pp. 41-50 (2015). (Published: June 30, 2015) 1. Results of Investigation – The texts of the two papers were compared, whereupon a percentage match exceeding 47 percent was found in terms of the number of words. When the comparison was made with the initially submitted manuscript, that is, the manuscript before it was revised based on peer reviews, the percentage match with paper B was 58 percent. – When the conclusions of the two papers were compared, they were found to be nearly identical, from which we conclude that paper A does not display sufficient novelty. – Paper B is not cited as a reference in paper A, and when the same figure appears in the two documents, its source is not cited. – It was found that, during the period from manuscript submission to publication, the authors failed to submit paper B as a previously published paper, as stipulated in Article 11.2 of the JDR Instructions to Authors (Japanese version), or otherwise submit any documentation that refers to the existence of paper B. 2. Decision As a result of the above investigation, the JDR editorial board concludes that paper A constitutes a duplicate submission and is in violation of the JDR Instructions to Authors (Japanese version). Its acceptance is thereby revoked, and it has been duly removed from the JDR official website. Any inquiries regarding this matter should be made to this office: JDR Editorial Office, Fuji Technology Press Ltd. Unizo Uchikanda 1-Chome Bldg. 2F 1-15-7 Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0047, Japan TEL: 03-5577-3851 FAX: 03-5577-3861 E-mail: disaster@fujipress.jp

Special Issue on NIED Frontier Research on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2019

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) is working on three tasks: predicting disasters, preventing damage, and realizing speedy reconstruction and recovery efforts in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, torrential rains, blizzards, and ice storms. In the last three years of the NIED’s fourth mid/long term plan period, which began in 2016, natural disasters have occurred every year, including earthquake disasters such as the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake (M7.3) and the 2018 Iburi, Hokkaido, earthquake (M7.1). Disasters of the rainfall include the heavy rainfall in the northern Kyushu (Fukuoka and Oita) in July 2017, the heavy rain event in southwestern Japan in July 2018, the rainfall in northern Kyushu (Saga) in August 2019, and the heavy rainfall in Kanto and Tohoku in October 2019. There were also other disasters: an avalanche accident on Nasudake in 2017 and a phreatic eruption of Kusatsu-Shiranesan in 2018. Due to the above-mentioned very frequent occurrence of such natural disasters on the Japanese islands, our institute has conducted several research projects to mitigate the damage from such disasters and to accelerate the recovery from them. As the third NIED special issue in the Journal of Disaster Research, several related research results were presented such as those on seismic disasters (Wakai et al., Nakazawa et al., and Ohsumi et al.), those on climatic disasters (Nakamura, and Ishizawa and Danjo), and those of their integrated researches for disaster risk reduction (Cui et al. and Nakajima et al.). Although the achievements detailed in these papers are the results of individual research, the NIED hopes that these results as a whole will be fully utilized to promote science and technology for disaster risk reduction and resilience. The NIED hopes that this special issue awakens the readers’ interest in new research and, of course, creates an opportunity for further collaborative works with us.

Presenting the Fourth JDR Award

It is our great pleasure to present the Fourth JDR Award to Professor Nobuo Shuto for his outstanding contributions to the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) as the Honorary Editor. Professor Shuto, Professor Emeritus of Tohoku University, is a pioneer of the theoretical study of tsunamis. He has also made a large contribution to the development of numerical simulations, visualization through computer graphics, and other critical techniques for the study and control of tsunami disasters. The development of tsunami disaster reduction and management that we have today is thanks in large part to his achievements. On behalf of the JDR editorial board, I wish to thank Professor Nobuo Shuto for his efforts and to congratulate him as the winner of the Fourth JDR Award.

Special Issue on NIED Frontier Research on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2018

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) is working on three tasks: predicting disasters, preventing damage, and realizing speedy reconstruction and recovery efforts in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, torrential rains, blizzards, and ice storms. In the last two years of the NIED’s fourth mid/long term plan period, which began in 2016, the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake (M6.5 and M7.3), the heavy rainfall in the Northern Kyushu District in July 2017, and the heavy rain event of July 2018 are listed as “named” disasters, named by Japan Meteorological Agency. In addition, there were other disasters: an avalanche accident on Nasudake in 2017, an earthquake (M6.1) with its epicenter in northern Osaka, an eruption of Kirishimayama (Shinmoedake and Ioyama) and a phreatic eruption of Kusatsu-Shiranesan in 2018. The results of research done on the above-mentioned disasters and the latest results of ongoing projects in each research division and center were compiled as the second NIED special issue of the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR). In this special issue, we are delighted to present ten papers on three topics: climatic disasters, seismic disasters, and integrated research on disaster risk reduction. In particular, this special issue contains three papers on the above-mentioned heavy rainfall in the Northern Kyushu District in July 2017 and two papers related to the Kumamoto earthquake. Although the achievements detailed in these papers are the results of individual research, the NIED hopes that these results as a whole will be fully utilized to promote science and technology for disaster risk reduction and resilience. The NIED hopes that this special issue awakens the readers’ interest in new research and, of course, creates an opportunity for further collaborative works with us.

Message from the Winner

I am honored to receive the Third JDR Award, and I am very grateful to the editorial committee members and staff of the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR). I also wish to express my gratitude to all the authors who contributed to the papers in three special issues entitled “Disaster and Big Data,” which were published in 2016, 2017, and 2018. I really enjoyed the opportunities I had in guest editing the 36 excellent papers in the special issues. My approximately 30 publications in the JDR include the outcomes from the international joint research projects of SATREPS Indonesia, Peru, and Chile, so I would like to share the delight of receiving the JDR award with all the research members of the projects and thank them for their fruitful collaboration. The Journal of Disaster Research all across the wide and comprehensive scope of its outstanding research has provided topical and valuable insights as well as significant implications for disaster reduction and management. I do hope I have contributed to making the JDR an excellent publication of valuable disaster research findings from around the world.

Presenting the Third JDR Award

It is our great pleasure to present the Third JDR Award to Professor Shunichi Koshimura for his outstanding contributions to the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) as the author of 27 JDR articles and the guest editor of three special JDR issues. Dr. Koshimura started his academic career as a young and promising researcher in the field of tsunami disasters. He is now a full professor at Tohoku University’s International Research Institute of Disaster Research, where he specializes in remote sensing and geoinformatics for disaster management. It is our conviction that Professor Koshimura will be productive in both researching and teaching disaster risk reduction for many decades to come, reflecting his rich and profound professional experience with the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster.

Special Issue on Communicating Hazard and Risk: From Scientific Information to Community Involvement

Hazard and risk researchers are using their research results to target several vastly different stakeholders: the scientific community, governmental institutions, engineers and the larger technical community, companies, and finally the local residents. Each of these groups has a different focus on the results and is drawing different conclusions from them. In this special issue for the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), we address the problems surrounding hazard and risk communication by asking important questions. How can we communicate hazard and/or risk to the public? How can we involve communities in risk assessment? How can we raise the acceptance of risk models in communities? How can communities be involved in mitigation measures? Finally, how can we explain the inherit uncertainties of hazard and risk assessments? To answer these questions, it is essential to integrate knowledge from the social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. As the first step in this effort, we selected seven papers in the present special issue: six are related to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes in Japan and one to a research in Taiwan. They include studies on hazard and risk estimates before the disaster, risk communication during the earthquake sequence by the Japan Metrological Agency, the psychological and behavioral characteristics of disaster victims, resident evacuation patterns, the recovery process, and risk communication in disaster. The paper of the research in Taiwan addresses the importance of resident involvement to earthquake science for disaster preparedness.

Special Issue on NIED Frontier Researches on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2017

In April 2016, our institute, NIED, under its new English name the “National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience,” commenced its fourth mid-to-long term planning period, set to last seven years. We are constantly required to carry out comprehensive efforts, including observations, forecasts, experiments, assessments, and countermeasures related to a variety of natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, heavy rains, blizzards, and ice storms. Since this is NIED’s first special issue for the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), works were collected on a wide variety of topics from research divisions and centers as well as from ongoing projects in order to give an overview of the latest achievements of the institute. We are delighted to present 17 papers on five topics: seismic disasters, volcanic disasters, climatic disasters, landslide disasters, and the development of comprehensive Information Communications Technology (ICT) for disaster management. Even though the achievements detailed in these papers are certainly the results individual research, NIED hopes to maximize these achievements for the promotion of science and technology for disaster risk reduction and resilience as a whole. It is our hope that this special issue awakens the readers’ interest in a study, and, of course, creates an opportunity for further collaborative works with us.

Message from Editors-in-Chief

Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) is a comprehensive, peer-reviewed professional journal published in Japan for studies on disaster reduction with all-hazard approach and has published more than 1,000 papers since 2006. I took over the chief editor from Dr. Takiguchi last September to help Dr. Murakami. I would like to keep working on publishing high-quality study achievements from JDR, as a clearinghouse site of disaster risk reduction and resilience information in Asia. I very much hope for your continued cooperation.

Presenting the Second JDR Award

The Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) has published many special issues in addition to its regular issues. These special issues have included various papers that have covered disasters comprehensively. Among them, the Special Issue on “Tsunami Forces and Effects on Structures” in Vol.4 No.6, 2009 and the Special Issue on “Uncertainties in Tsunami Effects” in Vol.11 No.4, 2016 include practical papers on tsunami disasters which are sure to contribute greatly to tsunami disaster control. The members of the JDR editorial board have unanimously agreed to present this second JDR Award to the editor of the special issues: Harry Yeh Professors, School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University, USA I met Professor Harry Yeh for the first time while doing a field survey on the earthquake and tsunami that struck Flores Island, Indonesia in December 1992. He was already a world-renowned researcher, known for his theoretical tsunami research based on accurate hydraulic experiments. I remember that I was deeply impressed with his energetic attitude towards the survey as he worked to reveal phenomena on the disaster site. Since then, I have accompanied him on various disaster surveys, and I have listened to his unique and significant opinions on tsunami studies at many conferences. The two special issues mentioned above reflect his broad range of knowledge and experience. On behalf of the JDR editorial board, I wish to thank Professor Harry Yeh for his efforts and to congratulate him as the winner of the second JDR Award. Tomoyuki Takahashi Professor, Faculty of Societal Safety Sciences, Kansai University, Japan