We are pleased to publish the special issue of International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) Research, titled “Collective Intelligence in Disaster Science 2024”

The research and practices of IRIDeS aim to gain knowledge and insights derived from disasters, and apply them towards building a resilient society. The goal of disaster science and its practices is to prevent and reduce exposure to hazards and vulnerability to disasters. It seeks to strengthen preparedness for response and recovery, and thus resilience, through the implementation of integrated and comprehensive economic, structural, social, cultural, educational, environmental, and technological measures to prevent new disaster risks and mitigation of existing risks.

The accumulation of scientific evidences and knowledge produced in the diverse research of IRIDeS researchers will lead an emergence of “collective intelligence” as a consequence of collaboration and collective efforts of many individuals and their teams. This special issue consists of seven papers. I hope these new outcomes will promote the development of a resilient and sustainable society against all hazards. As an editor of this issue, I would like to express my deep gratitude for the insightful comments and suggestions made by the reviewers and the members of the editorial committee.

It is now widely recognized that the rescue of local historical materials following a disaster can be an effective tool for the recovery of individuals and communities. After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, a local NPO rescued and restored historical heritage that had been owned by the victims. This study hypothesizes that such activities constitute psychosocial support as recommended by the WHO for survivors. Our informants were people owning damaged historical materials that had been rescued by the NPO. In view of the short-comings of conventional methodology in assessing the merits of psychosocial support, this study applies a psychometric evaluation of how the informants perceived their rescue by the NPO, using a semi-structured interview survey method with a quasi-experimental design. Of the 20 informants, 19 were over 65 years old. Interviews were conducted by clinical psychologists who were not involved in the NPO’s activities so as to ensure an independent evaluation. The results revealed that those who experienced their rescue within three months after the disaster had positive images of the rescue and surrounding events, whereas informants whose rescue was delayed tended to have negative impressions, despite the objective fact that it was the former group who had all suffered greater damage from the disaster. Those informants who succeeded in changing their overwhelmingly negative experiences into positive images also showed a markedly higher rate of engagement with their communities, which can be interpreted as showing higher resilience.

This study aims to evaluate the performance of the previous sequential Bayesian update for synthesizing tsunami scenarios in a diverse database consisting of complex fault rupture patterns with heterogeneous slip distributions. We utilize an existing database comprising 1771 tsunami scenarios targeting the city of Westport (WA, U.S.), which includes synthetic wave height records and inundation distributions resulting from a fault rupture in the Cascadia subduction zone. After preprocessing the training dataset according to the developed framework, Bayesian updates are performed sequentially to evaluate the probability that each training scenario is a test case. In addition to detecting the scenario with the highest probability, i.e., the most likely scenario, we synthesize the scenario by the weighted mean of all the learning scenarios by their probabilities. The accuracies of tsunami risk evaluation based on both resultant scenarios are evaluated from the maximum offshore wave, inundation depth, and its distribution. The results of the cross-validation with five different testing/training datasets showed that the weighted mean scenario has almost comparable performance to that of the most likely scenario. Additionally, the sequential Bayesian update improves the accuracy of both methods if a 3–4 minute observation time window is given, and has an advantage over the benchmark results provided by dynamic time warping with full-time series data.

The 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, which struck on January 1 during Japan’s holiday season, may have led to some delays in response efforts. It is important to acknowledge that many individuals likely responded promptly, and this statement is not intended to criticize the responses of various parties. Another significant challenge was how regions outside the affected area could effectively support those impacted, especially in terms of school education soon after the disaster. This study provides a preliminary report on a school education support project initiated in response to the earthquake. The primary focus is on the centralized information portal site launched on January 3, designed for “supporting supporters.” Additionally, the study covers the rapid response meeting held on January 9 and the report meeting on May 8, both at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. These initiatives aim to address and summarize current challenges and outline future directions for schools in Ishikawa Prefecture and across Japan. We hope that this study will contribute to recovery and reconstruction efforts in Ishikawa Prefecture and enhance resilient school education worldwide.

This study aimed to examine the trends in the medical community in Japan during the Spanish flu pandemic by analyzing The Japan Medical World (JMW), a medical journal of modern Japan. The analysis included 3,856 articles published in issues Nos.228–279, from January 1918 to March 1919. Three key issues emerged from this analysis. First, the tone of the JMW’s discourse may have been influenced by the prevailing medical situation or may have placed emphasis on specific aspects of the situation. Second, the JMW and the medical community in Japan initially neglected the influenza pandemic until the autumn of 1918, when the Spanish flu became widespread in Japan. Third, complex factors, such as academic factionalism and conflicts within the pharmaceutical industries, influenced the Japanese medical community, particularly the bacteriological scientific community during the Spanish flu pandemic. Therefore, “a comprehensive approach” to understanding the period, including not only medical knowledge but also critical reading skills of humanities and social sciences, is indispensable for analyzing the trends in the Japanese medical community during the Spanish flu pandemic. Attention should be paid to these factors when examining the trends in the medical community in Japan at that time.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster (3.11) of March 11, 2011, the use of various media to convey disaster experiences and lessons grew, including a large number of 3.11 picture books. However, there has been limited scholarship on these books, and no comprehensive database of 3.11 picture books exists. This research conducted an comprehensive inventory of 3.11 picture books published in the 13 years after the disaster, until March 2024. 122 titles met the criteria of being picture books with stories related to the 3.11 disasters, and an initial survey identified general trends in their publication over time and by publication type. Through investigating themes and contents, the authors identified six primary narrative typological categories: (1) disaster impact stories, that focus on telling what happened; (2) disaster risk reduction action or evacuation stories; (3) stories of local pride (place attachment); (4) stories with hopeful or positive messages for the future; (5) stories of loss; and (6) stories about nature and animals. As initial research, this paper represents a unique contribution to the growing body of literature on disaster storytelling media and clarifies the characteristics of 3.11 picture books as a body of work. Building on this comprehensive inventory and thematical categorization of 3.11 picture books, the authors expect future research to further analyze the text and image contents of these books, leading to deeper understanding of the contributions of 3.11 picture books towards not only emotional care, but also raising disaster awareness.

Researchers with different academic backgrounds work together in disaster science. This qualitative study explores similarities and differences in the perceptions of values and measures of research outcomes in disaster science’s sub-disciplines. We also investigate how researchers trained initially in different study areas communicate, reflecting the state of Convergence Knowledge in disaster science. In this paper, 37 disaster science researchers in the sciences and humanities responded to an open-ended questionnaire survey. Regardless of their specialties, they evaluated an academic paper based on three main criteria: the researchers’ perception of the paper, the medium in which the paper was published, and the way it was used and read. They tended to value originality and the capacity to meet social needs. They pointed out matters in disaster science that should be acknowledged and the need for new indicators to assess them properly. However, attitudes toward numerical metrics and publication frequency differed by discipline. Also, there are few standard disaster science journals where they publish their successful papers, and the number of peers with whom they can interact professionally is limited. Therefore, the scope of academic understanding among disaster science researchers is limited, and its Convergence Knowledge has not yet been systematically advanced. However, mutual differences and the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration are recognized. Clarifying the benefits of interdisciplinary studies for researchers and launching appropriate indicators through cooperation among diverse sub-disciplines may advance Convergence Knowledge.

Collaborative and participatory planning processes that are interactive, thoughtful, and efficient have become increasingly important elements of post-disaster recovery. Meanwhile, rapid action remains critically important to quickly restore destroyed urban systems, but creating long-term resilience demands new ideas that are also implementable. These various tensions create a daunting paradox, and while many communities have attempted to use collaborative planning approaches in recovery, useful assessments and guidance on collaborative recovery planning is sparse. To better understand the nuances of a collaborative recovery, we document and evaluate the effectiveness of the collaborative processes behind the planning of the ESCR resilience project, initiated as BIG U in New York City, which emphasizes community participation and collaborative decision-making. The project is unique because of its innovative and interactive multi-stakeholder processes. The authors have studied the case longitudinally over the past decade, using a variety of research methods to gather relevant information. The ESCR collaborative efforts suggest that, first, there is a disconnect in the dominant rationalities behind climate resilience efforts between the planning and implementation phases. Second, given the disconnect between the planning and implementation phases, collaborative efforts must be refined to remain relevant in the implementation phase. Third, even after project implementation, there are different types of rationality employed, and thus varying levels of satisfaction, depending on the benefits that participants receive. While planners must recognize the disconnect between collaborative planning and project implementation and seek ways to mitigate any abrupt shifts, we conclude that collaborative approaches to recovery planning can be effective and manageable, even in unique recovery situations.

Geological disasters in China have caused enormous damage to humans and the economy. The Chinese government has made significant efforts to mitigate geological disasters. Usually, the efficiency of disaster emergency response holds top priority. In this study, we considered the historical analysis of China’s geological disaster emergency response as the primary line and developed a slacks-based measure data envelopment analysis model to evaluate the performance of 18 geological disasters reliefs during 2015–2019 in China. This model is used to examine the performance of the geological disaster emergency response activities. The results indicate that although the capabilities of geo-disaster relief have continuously improved from 2015 to 2019, China’s geological disaster emergency response system remains in its primary stage. In particular, the efficiency of landslide emergency response operations is low. We analyzed the factors influencing efficiency and provided several suggestions for capacity improvement in geo-disaster emergency responses.

The increasing adoption of public transport, especially metros, has facilitated the need for efficient transport management. This, in turn, has resulted in a radical movement of people via metro stations. The recent advances in mass-rapid transportation may be attributed to the urgent demand for efficient ways to perform evacuations when disasters arise. This study provides specific suggestions for seamless evacuation to improve security in metro stations in the case of disasters by simulating an evacuation at the A18 Station of Taoyuan Metro using the buildingEXODUS software. We specifically focus on ensuring the safety of people during evacuation and avoiding stampedes. After a thorough analysis of various literature, we suggest efficient management of direction lighting in payment gates and the emergency exit on the 3rd platform floor of the station. The outcomes and findings of the research can help implement smooth and efficient evacuation of people in the Taoyuan HSR Station in the cases of disasters in the forthcoming years.

The Japan Meteorological Agency defines extreme climate events as phenomena occurring once every 30 years or less. To prepare for disasters, we investigated future projections of 30-year return values of heavy precipitation in the Tohoku District of northern Japan based on a large number of ensemble warming projections that are dynamically downscaled to 5-km grids under the Social Implementation Program on Climate Change Adaptation Technology. The 30-year return values of daily and hourly precipitation are projected to significantly increase under global warming, indicating the strengthening of extremely heavy rainfall. Their averaged ratios across the Tohoku District in the 2-K and 4-K warmer climates to those in the present climate are 1.12 and 1.30 times for daily precipitation and 1.18 and 1.45 times for hourly precipitation, respectively. In particular, the 30-year return values are enormous on the eastern slopes of the Kitakami and Abukuma Mountains and the Ou Mountain Range. The rates of increase in the 30-year return values are pronounced in the northern part of Tohoku, where the surface air temperature increase is more significant than in other regions. These results suggest the need to upgrade disaster prevention measures for heavy rainfall as a climate change adaptation in the Tohoku District. We also examined the regional dependency of seasonal variation in the occurrence rates of daily and hourly extreme events. The results indicated that the occurrence rates tend to be relatively high on the Sea of Japan side of the Tohoku District in July due to the Baiu front, over the entire Tohoku District in August due to strong convective instability, and on the Pacific Ocean side due to September typhoons and autumn stationary fronts. This seasonality is projected to remain almost unchanged under warmer conditions.

The 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake significantly affected the Noto Peninsula, Japan, where foreign nationals, mainly foreign technical intern trainees, reside. They represent a minority in Japanese society in terms of language and religion, which may render them vulnerable to disasters. Muslim communities centered in mosques have supported such minorities in past natural hazard-related disasters. However, in Japan, these activities have rarely been investigated immediately after a disaster event. This study aims to provide a prompt report on the initial responses of three mosques (1. Kanazawa Mosque, 2. Al-Faruq Mosque, and 3. Toyama Mosque) in Ishikawa and Toyama Prefectures, which were significantly affected by the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. To this end, we conducted interviews mainly with the (deputy) representatives of the target mosques until approximately two months after the earthquake. Consequently, all three mosques functioned as evacuation shelters for traveling or nearby affected Muslims in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. In addition, both the Kanazawa Mosque and Al-Faruq Mosque provided relief supplies to foreign technical intern trainees (Indonesian Muslims) in the Noto Peninsula within approximately one week of the earthquake; they continued providing support thereafter. Al-Faruq Mosque also provided soup kitchens to Japanese individuals (non-Muslims) and the technical intern trainees. Such mosque functions and activities have been observed in past natural hazard-related disasters; thus, these findings are highly generalizable. These findings may be useful for the government and other stakeholders when considering how to support affected minorities in the future.

The Large-scale Earthquake Simulator at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience was established in 1970 as the first facility in Tsukuba Science City and remained in operation until 2022. Over its more than 50 years of operation, the facility conducted a total of 447 experiments, playing a vital role in advancing seismic engineering. This article summarizes the contributions of the now-decommissioned facility by outlining its updates over time and providing examples of the experiments conducted to adapt to evolving needs.

Thirteen years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. The lessons learned from the FDNPP accident were that a lack of knowledge about radiation, insufficient information, and inadequate crisis communication led to increased radiation anxiety, reputational damage and disaster-related deaths; however, these issues still remain unsolved. To minimize disaster damage, preventive measures, such as formulating appropriate action plans (including for evacuation) during an emergency, should be implemented in advance. In Japan, the Bousaisi (disaster prevention advisers) qualification system commenced in 2003 and is expected to play an active role in disaster prevention and mitigation activities in local communities. However, the role of Bousaisi in a radiation disaster is not clear. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to clarify the role of Bousaisi in local radiation-related disaster prevention and describe the steps to construct a “Radiation Disaster Prevention and Local Awareness Activity Model.” With the correct knowledge about radiation and by promoting appropriate radiation risk communication, Bousaisi can contribute to preventing disaster-related deaths and reducing reputational damage.

Upon further review of the article, the authors noticed errors in Figs. 9 and 10 that the authors would like to correct. The authors regret this error, and this error has now been corrected in the PDF version of the article.

Now reads

Fig. 9 Loss training value.(Written 0,06; 0,11; 0,16; 0,21; 0,26; 0,31; on the y-axis.) Fig. 10 Histogram of error percentage.(Written 1 m; 1,7 m; 2 m; 2,45 m on the x-axis.)

Should read

Fig. 9 Loss training value.(Should be 0.06; 0.11; 0.16; 0.21; 0.26; 0.31; on the y-axis.) Fig. 10 Histogram of error percentage.(Should be 1 m; 1.7 m; 2 m; 2.45 m on the x-axis.)