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Studies on the Urban and Local Level Securement of Disaster Preparedness Functions of Coastal Cities and Towns After the Great Tohoku Earthquake

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Studies on the Urban and Local Level Securement of Disaster Preparedness Functions of Coastal Cities and Towns After the Great Tohoku Earthquake Proceedings of International Symposium on City Planning 2013 Studies on the Urban and Local Level Securement of Disaster Preparedness Functions of Coastal Cities and Towns after the Great Tohoku Earthquake Nozomu Kiuchi* Abstract In the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, in Pacific coastal areas of Tohoku region in Japan, many of the public facilities such as fire department and municipal office, hospital, etc., were severely damaged by tsunami submergence and earthquake vibration. These facilities were supposed to function as disaster preparedness facilities in such occasions, and the result was such that many of the municipalities, during the crisis and the recovery process, lacked all or a part of the disaster preparedness functions and could not react to the situation autonomously. The main purpose of this study is, investigate, from city planning point of view, suggestions to locations and functions of disaster preparedness facilities, from studies of the Great Tohoku Earthquake experience. Many interviews, in addition to document investigations, in 4 tsunami-affected cities and towns were made to person in charge of these facilities on the deprivation and recovery process of the functions. This article will focus on the phenomenon, in urban and local level to secure disaster preparedness functions, that were clarified from investigation of 4 case study municipalities; Ishinomaki City, Minami-Sanriku Town, Ofunato City, and Kamaishi City. As a result, such types of responses were seen and the followings are the suggestion to disaster mitigation city planning. 1) Deprivation, substitution and relocation of functions. 2) Consolidation and dispersal of headquarter functions. 3) Hierarchy of stations for external disaster relief teams. 4) Centralization and decentration of distribution stations for aid supplies. 5) Hierarchy of shelter functions. 6) Easy and difficult of accesses to disaster preparedness facilities. 7) Different use of facilities according to locations. Keywords: disaster preparedness facilities, tsunami disaster, Great Tohoku Earthquake * National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, MLIT E-Mail: [email protected] - 1 - 0. Introduction 0.1 Background and purpose of research Disaster preparedness facilities such as local government offices, firefighting and rescue facilities, etc., are important in case of disaster, as stronghold of post disaster activities to limit the extent of damage, support peoples life, and sketch the restoration plan for the future. However, in the case of tsunami disaster caused by the Great Tohoku Earthquake, of March 2011, many coastal municipalities to the Pacific in Tohoku had such facilities severely damaged by tsunami submergence (and also earthquake vibration) (Figure 1). Consequently, many of the municipalities, during the crisis and the recovery process, lacked all or a part of the disaster preparedness functions and experienced difficulty in self-directive disaster response. Figure 1. Damage by Tsunami Submergence of Minami-Sanriku Downtown (aerial photograph of Geospatial Information Authority of Japan) A countermeasure against such incidents, to avoid damage to the disaster preparedness facilities and secure their functions, is certainly their relocation to upland hills, with aseismic capacity, and also provide them with equipments such as emergency power generator, etc.. However, it is impractical for all municipalities to take all possible measures to all facilities, and all possible circumstances of diverse disaster types. Moreover, located in or adjacent to the downtown, many of these facilities have important role in citizens' daily-life sustainability and downtown vitalization. Especially in the local municipalities where population is old and declining, such approach as wave-resistant, water-resistant and quake-resistant refurbishment, relocation, and alternate-facility designation, should be taken in a organized manner in conformity with the future spatial vision of the municipality, so that individual approach to each facility, as a whole, will not to weaken the region. This article on the basis of such viewpoints, will focus on the disaster preparedness facilities and functions, illustrate the damage of facilities, interferences in functioning, and their recovery process, and then examine the actual spatial attempts to secure the preparedness function in urban and local scale. 0.2 Research Methods In this research, disaster preparedness functions and facilities taken in account are; disaster response and restoration command function to control various activities against disaster (municipal office building, in which disaster response headquarters is established), and - 2 - Proceedings of International Symposium on City Planning 2013 management and operation functions of fire-fighting and rescue activities (fire department), disaster medical care functions (disaster base hospital), the accommodation function of the refugee (shelter), and acceptance function of external support (parks and other facilities). We overviewed the location, tsunami flood damage, and etc. of these facilities and functions in Miyagi and Iwate prefecture, and carried out detailed investigation, including interviews to officials and facility administrators, to selected case study cities. 1. Overview of Damage of Disaster Preparedness Facilities in Coastal Municipalities of Iwate and Miyagi Prefecture The situation of disaster preparedness facilities, in 28 coastal municipalities (including 2 Wards of Sendai City) of Iwate and Miyagi Prefecture, such as their damage, functioning and relocation were studied from published articles and internet information, and are summarized in Table-1. Efficiency of Daily Use Low High High Group A : Facilities Group C : Facilities dispersed, outside the cumulated, outside the submergedarea submergedarea Group B : Facilities Group D : Facilities dispersed, inside the cumulated, inside the submergedarea submergedarea Safety to Disaster to Safety Low Group E : Downtown area was not swamped (excluded) ※In and around the central area of the municipality Figure 2. Typology of Municipalities by Locations of the Facilities and the Submerged Area By such questions as, whether tsunami submerged the downtown area, are the disaster preparedness facilities are located within and around the downtown area, and whether the location of the facilities are Morioka dispersed or cumulated, the municipalities are divided into 5 groups of Kamaishi Figure 2 (types A-E). From these groups, types A-D were considered to Ofunato have a planning agenda, of conflict between tsunami submergence and Minami-Sanriku disaster preparedness facility location, and from each type, Ishinomaki Ishinomaki City (type A), Kamaishi City (type B), Ofunato City (type C), and Sendai Minami-Sanriku Town (Type D) were chosen for case study and detailed investigation was worked out (Figure 3). Figure 3. Location of 4 Case Study Municipalities 2. Loss-recovery Situation of Disaster Preparedness Functions in Ishinomaki City (Miyagi Prefecture) 2.1 Overview of the City and the Damage Ishinomaki City is located in the east of Miyagi Prefecture, and the current municipality was born by amalgamation of former city with six adjacent towns of Monou, Kanan, Kahoku, Kitakami, Ogatsu, and Oshika in 2005, and the population is 160,826(1). This research focus in the former city region, which is situated in the mouth of the Kyu-Kitakami River. - 3 - Table 1. Situation of Disaster Preparedness Facilities in 28 Coastal Municipalities Disaster Response & Fire-Fighting and Disaster Medical Care Acceptance of External Support Restoration Command Rescue Activities Type Fire Fighting Head Main Municipal Office Disaster Base Hospital Oultline of Base Facility Office Hirono Town E ◎ No damage － ◎ No damage － Museum of History and Folklore (emergency fire Kuji City E ◎ No damage ◎ No damage ◎ No damage response team) Partially swamped Partially swamped (1st Noda Village D ○ － △ － (entrance hall) flr.) Fudai Village E ◎ No damage － ◎ No damage － Tanohata Village Ｅ ◎ No damage － ◎ No damage － Iwaizumi Town Ｅ ◎ No damage － ◎ No damage － Partially swamped (1st Partially damaged Miyako City Ｂ △ ◎ No damage ○ － flr.) (cracked) Yamada Pref. Hospital swamped Partially swamped Partially swamped (1st Touno City Sports park (accumulation base for relief Yamada Town Ａ △ (×) and ceased its function, now △ (basement) flr.) supplies) operates in a temporary building Swamped to 2nd flr. and shut down Completely damaged (after Otsuchi Junior High School Terano Baseball Ground (accumulation base for relief →temporary building at Otsuchi Town Ｄ × × aid station and Kamimachi Fureai × Completely damaged supplies) & Touno City Sports park (accumulation Otsuchi Primary School Center, moved to a temporary base for relief supplies) play ground building) Product & Craft Center (accumulation base for relief Partially swamped supplies) Iwate Prefecture Iwate Partially swamped (1st Partially unusable by vibration (basement & 1st flr. of Branch office of a transit operator (emergency annx. bsmt. & 1st flr.) Kamaishi City Ｂ × △ (reopened by antiseismic × 1st annex ) vehicle fueling base) →reopened in a reinforcement) →reopened in a Stationing base at Touno City Sports park and activity subsitute facility subsitute facility bases at Kamaishi Prefectural Office Complex and Osano Branch Fire Station Higashi Senior High School (emergency fire response team)、Setamai Primary School of Sumita Town (support team from UK & USA) Partially
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