Tsunami evacuation: Lessons from the Great East Japan earthquake ...

2012
2.0 INTERVIEW OUTCOMES
This section discusses emergent themes from the interviews with disaster prevention and
emergency service officials in the Tōhoku region, and relates these issues to Washington
and New Zealand. Each sub-section contains information which has some cross-over to
other themes, and several themes may be inter-related or influenced by the same factors.
No theme or event highlighted here should be considered in isolation. A summary of the key
points raised in interviews at each location is presented in Appendix 3 for quick reference.
Recommendations for Washington and New Zealand are given separately in Section 3.0 in
consistent sub-sections.
2.1 Community involvement in evacuation planning and preparedness
Community disaster groups are common in Japan and many cities and towns have multiple
disaster prevention groups who are engaged with local government in awareness and
education activities at the neighbourhood level.
High levels of community engagement were apparent in most of the interviews, particularly
with residents being involved in production of evacuation maps in Kamaishi, Ōfunato,
Kesennuma, and Minami-Sanriku. In these locations, the prefectural government provides
hazard mapping to the municipal government who then work with community groups to
develop the evacuation maps and identify suitable (or historical) places of refuge. This
approach is not ubiquitous – in Natori City, the development of evacuation mapping was said
to be the responsibility of local government who then provide the finalised evacuation map to
the public.
The local community was involved in identification of potential buildings for vertical tsunami
evacuation in Ōfunato, Kesennuma and Kamaishi. Community members had either
approached building owners about the potential use of a building, or approached municipal
government with suggestions of potential buildings. There have been mixed outcomes
regarding the eventual official designation of buildings where the community have been
involved in this process, but it is clear that community engagement in vertical evacuation
strategies is beneficial, as discussed in Section 2.7.
In addition to the nationwide tsunami disaster drill carried out annually on the anniversary of
the 1960 Chile tsunami, community groups in Natori City, Ishinomaki City and Miyako City
carry out more regular drills for tsunami, as well as other hazards. The officials we
interviewed were not able to provide data on the levels of resident participation in such drills.
Community involvement in planning and preparedness is well-established in Washington,
where the Emergency Management Division engages with coastal communities through
county level emergency management groups, who co-ordinate community education
sessions and evacuation drills. There has previously been a high level of community interest
in participating in focus groups on tsunami risk and preparedness, with proactive preparation
among many hotels in coastal Washington (Johnston et al., 2005). An AHAB siren test and
evacuation drill on September 21st 2011 achieved 100% participation of schools in Grays
Harbor County, although participation was lower in other counties (J. D. Schelling, personal
communication, December 17th 2011), illustrating the high levels of engagement which have
been achieved. Project Safe Haven is a current vertical evacuation strategy development
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