Abstract
Due to the delay between the triggering seismic event and the actual wave, tsunamis can be forecast and prepared for by warnings and evacuations. In the Pacific, tsunamis originating from the highly seismically active “Ring of Fire” can cause devastation in distant areas of the ocean. Thus, international cooperation in tsunami research and prevention has proved vital. In this article, the history of the internationalization of tsunami research and the establishment of Japanese and US tsunami prevention systems within the Pacific are traced from a global history perspective. Two goals are pursued: Firstly, the connections between Japanese disaster prevention history and global trends are clarified, while considering the role of local experiences. Secondly, the role of scientists as advocates of disaster preparedness is examined. Scientists served not only as experts on preventive measures, but also as agents of global transfer of knowledge.
The word “tsunami” is used internationally today, reflecting Japan’s status as one of the leading nations in seismology since the beginnings of the discipline in the late 19th century. Subsequently, Japanese seismologists, such as Imamura Akitsune, became pioneers of tsunami research and disseminated their knowledge in English. In the 1920s, global research cooperation was intensified, though not successfully in the long term: At the 1926 Pan-Pacific Science Congress a seismic data network in the Pacific was proposed, and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics established the Commission pour l’étude des raz de mar ée in 1931. Hawaiian scientists, such as Thomas Jaggar, were inspired by Japanese researchers to run an early tsunami warning system in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1941, following the 1933 Shōwa Sanriku Tsunami, a tsunami warning system with regular evacuation trainings was introduced in the Tohoku region, influenced by civil defense during World War II. In the aftermath of the Aleutian Earthquake in 1946, the US founded a warning center in Hawaii and created a network of reporting stations throughout the Pacific. To incorporate Japan into this network, the US occupation authorities ordered a nationwide tsunami warning system. The network, however, failed to prevent damage in the 1960 Chilean Earthquake, which became a starting point for the creation of a new tsunami research network and the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in the 1960s.
Japanese and US disaster prevention and international cooperation on tsunamis followed similar trajectories, mutually influencing one another. Tsunami prevention originated in tsunami-prone regions around 1930, with scientists as prominent advocates. National tsunami warning systems were institutionalized in the postwar period and finally coordinated internationally in the 1960s. Therefore, Japanese disaster prevention cannot be considered without taking global developments into account.
