Lessons from Japan’s 2011 tsunami help save lives in latest earthquake

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Japan Meteorological Agency's earthquake and volcano observations division director Koji Nakamura addresses a news conference next to the map showing an earthquake epicentre. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:39pm, 22 Nov 2016Updated: 10:51pm, 22 Nov 2016

When massive tsunami waves slammed into Japan’s northeastern coast more than five years ago, about 18,000 people perished, prompting authorities to revise warning systems and evacuation plans to try to save more lives.

Now, we basically just tell people to stay away from the sea, to head to the highest possible ground

Tsunetaka Omine, a disaster official

On Tuesday, when a magnitude 7.4 quake hit the same area, the country swung into action, using lessons learned in the 2011 disaster to ensure coastal residents evacuated well before the much smaller waves hit. Prior to 2011, warning broadcasts were mostly limited to television, radio, and city officials on loudspeakers, with volunteer firemen in trucks roaming the roads, telling residents to flee to higher ground.

But on the day now known as “3/11,” some of these failed due to power outages after the huge magnitude 9.0 quake, while many firefighters were killed when the waves – 30 metres high in places – rushed ashore.

“A lot of people told us they weren’t able to hear any of the broadcasts, the waves were bigger than expected, and many went back after the first one to check things out,” said Tsunetaka Omine, a disaster official in Iwaki, a city where around 460 residents died in 2011.

Iwaki now blasts warnings to every mobile phone in the area, sends email messages and broadcasts on local radio in addition to the older methods. Previous elaborate systems designating specific evacuation centres have also been abandoned along the coast in many cases as too complicated. Some designated areas were too low and became death traps where scores seeking safety drowned.

“Now, we basically just tell people to stay away from the sea, to head to the highest possible ground,” Omine said.

Workers look at a floodgate under construction after tsunami warning was lifted, in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan. Photo: AP

As a result, as sirens wailed shortly after dawn on Tuesday, ships headed out of harbours to deeper water and lines of cars snaked up nearby hills. Public broadcaster NHK, always a key player in disaster prevention, revamped its broadcasts after 2011 in response to criticism that it had been too calm in its reporting, leading some to take warnings less seriously.