Questionnaire Survey concerning Stranded Commuters in Metropolitan Area in the East Japan Great Earthquake

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss a questionnaire survey concerning stranded commuters in the metropolitan area in the East Japan Earthquake. In the metropolitan area the average of commuting time is about 68 minutes and a lot of people commute particularly with railways that reach its peak during the morning and evening hours. When the railway network does not work properly or stop working suddenly for some reason, much of the stranded commuters have to stay at their existing locations or try to reach home on foot that may take a very long time which was observed in the case of East Japan Earthquake. Based on the results of the survey we conducted when the earthquake occurred, nearly 20 percent of people couldn’t come home at the same day. Accordingly, it can be said that the stranded commuters would behave in the same way when the next earthquake occurs.