Study on the refugees’ behavior after the earthquake and the thermal environmental risks

If 311 (the 2011 East Japan Great Earthquake) happened in midsummer

Abstract

During the March 11th, 2011 East Japan Great Earthquake, huge chaos happened near the subway station due to the Returning Home movement. If large-scale disasters occur during midsummer and a large crowd chaotically trapped in a subway station like in the 311 Earthquake, there will be a hidden danger of heat stroke happening out of control among a large number of people. The site has a high population density which is likely to lead to chaos during earthquakes. Based on the result of the thermal environment simulation and pedestrian simulation, the researcher found that heat stroke risk is also high within the site. Heat strokes usually occur on a large scale in a dense crowd due to people's long time exposure to high radiation temperature. In order to avoid future disastrous events, the researcher extracted the site's high thermal environmental risk areas, based on which formulated a set of urban green space design proposals for further improvement.