2023 Volume 79 Issue 17 Article ID: 23-17049
At the time of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, rescue activities were delayed due to obstruction by debris. In Japan, rapid search and rescue after a disaster is very important to mitigate human suffering and to reduce the number of unidentified victims. In this study, we focus on the number of days elapsed until the victims found in the rubble of the 2011 Tohku Earthquake and Tsunami, and analyze the factors affecting the number of days elapsed in each municipality and zip code district. We compared the number of days elapsed between outdoor victims and victims found in the rubble, and found that victims found in the rubble took more days to be found. The comparison of the number of days elapsed for victims found in rubble by municipality suggests that topography and the rate of total building destruction may have an effect on the number of days elapsed for victims found in rubble. Furthermore, the analysis of the characteristics of the number of days elapsed for each zip code area using quartile deviations suggests that the characteristics of the number of days elapsed differ depending on the topography.
