Network to Transmit Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

Planning of suitable countermeasures for rare disasters should incorporate lessons learned from similar past disasters so that this valuable information can be transmitted systematically from one generation to the next. This paper aims to examine what kind of lessons were learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, and how we should transmit that information to the next generation, by conducting a case study of the network of existing methods (institutions, storytellers, monuments, etc.) introduced in earthquake-damaged prefectures. For example, we found that local storytellers often highlight the evacuation principle of ‘Run away as fast as possible from a tsunami without worrying about family members.’ Unfortunately, however, useful post-disaster reconstruction policies for residential areas have yet to be established and/or presented in public, which suggests the need to introduce a research institute to study the lessons learned as a supplement to the existing methods.