Various Patterns of Risk to Victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

     Is a model of vulnerability to disaster, which is that vulnerable people tend to be affected more severely by a disaster, suitable for the great East Japan earthquake? To answer this question properly, we firstly have to distinguish the tsunami disaster and the disaster caused by an accident of nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Regarding the tsunami disaster, we explore a question whether areas where more elder people and fishery workers inhabit tend to have been damaged more severely, by analyzing data of local districts in affected areas. Next, we focus on a case of Rikuzen-takata in Iwate prefecture which seems to be an exceptional case of the model, and analyze how people have tried to avoid risks of the attack of tsunami and isolation in temporary housing and what its conditions are. Additionally, the paper turns to a discussion of risk of radiation exposure. The most important point of the issue is the fact that the young and the aged face different risks of diseases caused by radiation exposure and a refuse itself. However, if people take a viewpoint that any possibility of low level of radiation exposure should be avoided, they would fail to recognize the difference of risks to various vulnerable people properly and also mislead discussion about how to avoid risks and how to "redistribute" them. With the findings mentioned above, the paper insists that risks and damages to various types of vulnerable people are highly differentiated according to areas, phases and issues.