11 years after the 2011 earthquake disaster, more buildings have been designated for tsunami evacuation

Local governments have stepped up the classification of buildings as temporary evacuation sites in the event of a tsunami, and have learned from the deadly tsunami that struck northeastern Japan 11 years ago.

Specific structures increased significantly in areas where severe tsunami damage would be expected in the event of massive earthquakes, such as those projected in the Nankai Basin off the Pacific coast from central to southwestern Japan.

Many public facilities have been allocated, including schools. However, a sharp increase has been observed in private buildings, such as hardware stores and hotels.

Since vehicular evacuation caused problems at the time of the March 11, 2011 disaster, which led to many deaths, people are advised to flee on foot in principle.

In areas that are too far from safe high ground, it is important to quickly climb to the floors of buildings that are high enough and safe for tsunami evacuation.

According to the Cabinet Office, the total number of buildings designated as evacuation buildings with towers built specifically for tsunami evacuation was about 15,000 as of August 2018, up from about 4,000 as of October 2011.

In the Pacific coastal city of Shizuoka, in central Japan, the municipal government has designated multi-storey commercial and parking facilities as evacuation buildings and built evacuation towers in preparation for a possible earthquake in the Nankai True District.

In November 2020, the last evacuation towers planned by Shizuoka were completed – eliminating all areas that had been identified as places where residents would have problems evacuating to a place of safety quickly enough in the event of a tsunami.

The municipal government provides subsidies to owners of designated private facilities to help them make improvements, such as adding external evacuation stairs to the roof and installing lighting equipment for nighttime evacuation.

“We have added facilities for the tsunami at the highest conceivable height,” an official in Shizuoka said.

The municipal government of Kushiro, Hokkaido, has built and secured 113 evacuation buildings in the city, which are located on a vast tract of flat land.

Kushiro authorities have cold-weather protection blankets and equipment in stock in preparation for any tsunami waves triggered by a massive earthquake during the winter season in the Chishima Trench, or Japan Trench, off the coast of northern to eastern Japan.

“We need to make it more widely known that it is necessary to evacuate the highlands as soon as the shaking occurs,” a senior Kushiro official said.

The increase in tsunami evacuation buildings “makes local residents feel somewhat safe,” said Takehiko Yamamura, president of the consultancy firm Institute for Disaster Prevention System.

But he said some of those buildings had not been used for disaster drills, in part due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Yamamura said that local communities need to check through evacuation drills whether these buildings are really good for tsunami evacuation.

If the Nankai Trough earthquake occurs, a tsunami can reach some areas in just a few minutes. Also, buildings along evacuation routes may collapse.

“If you don’t train even once, you won’t be able to use (the evacuation building) in an emergency. We need to check in advance whether we can evacuate safely, and what roads we can take,” Yamamura said, calling on local governments to strengthen her efforts.

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