Share what we’ve learned from Earthquake - Strongest earthquake since 2011 strikes Kumamoto area in Japan

A magnitude-6.5 earthquake knocked down houses and buckled roads in Kyushu on Thursday, Apr 14. The temblor logged a 7, the highest level on the Japanese intensity scale.



Image Credit: Wikipedia

As Kyushu residents attempted to get through a sleepless night, another strong earthquake rocked Kumamoto early Saturday, Apr 16 injuring more than 1,000, bringing the combined death toll from Thursday’s quake to at least 48.

The magnitude-7.3 quake hit at 1:25 a.m. and registered 7 again on Japan’s seismic intensity scale of 7 in Kumamoto Prefecture. It was more powerful than the temblor that barely a day earlier.

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

 



The damage caused by Saturday’s quake and others in its wake has included collapsed houses, landslides, blackouts that have left more than 200,000 households without power, and water outages in 385,000 homes across Kumamoto, Oita and Miyazaki prefectures. The total number of quakes exceeds 860 since Apr 14, and 190,000 people have evacuated to the cars, tents and public buildings.
This is the strongest earthquake in the nation since the offshore Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

We have learned a lot from Great East Japan Earthquake as a nation. The actions taken right after the quake were very different from 2011 – quick and organized this time. I would like to introduce some examples:

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani announced on Friday, Apr 15 that the ministry would dispatch up to 25,000 Self-Defense Forces personnel to Kumamoto for rescue operations, with 5,000 more than initially planned, and he did it next day. Co-working with local rescue teams, they saved many lives who asked for help under collapsed houses.

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

 

There are several people who are missing due to the landslide, and the heavy machineries are used for finding them. These heavily machineries can be operated remotely against the risk of having another landslide.

 

 

Image Credit: Jiji.com

 

The convenience-store industry moved quickly as well. They have a nation-wide supply-chain network. They had their supply-chain in Kumamoto recovered much faster than 2011, and provided aid of foods and drinks to the evacuees.

 

 

SNS became powerful tool in the emergency situation. People can easily confirm the safe of the family and friends in the impacted area, and exchange the necessary information by SNS. For example, the media reported that one woman who evacuated to the city hall sent a message seeking toilet papers, and they were sent quickly from across the country.

 

Image Credit: Yahoo.com

 

Of course there are still many areas to be improved, but we have definitely learned and made progress in many ways to deal with the emergency situation caused by the big earthquake.

 

Recently there are big earthquakes happened not only in Japan but globally. As an earthquake-ridden country, Japan has developed technologies, measures and processes against earthquakes for many years. I think it would be useful to share these with the world so that we can save lives as much as possible and minimize the damages by earthquake.

 

 

Here is the Japan's traditional and modern earthquake construction techniques including quake-resistant building methods. You may be interested in: http://www.nhk.or.jp/japan311/tmrw2-trad.html

 

Would like all readers share their thoughts or opinions in the comments below. Would love to hear from you!

 

 

Please visit my LinkedIn page as well J

https://jp.linkedin.com/in/riekokoguchi