Ten years after the earthquake: between healing and remembrance

The Great East Japan Earthquake was the same as yesterday for me. I was fortunate at the time ten years ago to be part of the US military response to the disaster known as Operation Tomodachi. I have also been fortunate enough to continue participating in the affected area since then, as I recently completed my fifteenth trip there.

These trips were to aid in the recovery process (fukkō) as well as to help prevent the lessons learned in that tragedy from fading away. It is important that everyone learns in their power about disaster preparedness and response, so that they themselves do not become victims and can also help others whether they are near or far.

In March 2006, exactly five years before the 2011 disaster, I co-authored a set of recommendations on the use of American forces in a large-scale natural disaster in Japan and republished these proposals on these pages (“Time for Japan – US Mutual Assistance Agreement” March 30, 2011) while serving in Sendai as a political advisor to the USMF / USJF forward command, located at Camp Sendai, the headquarters of the Northeast Army of the Ground Self-Defense Forces.

Recommendations were based on my personal experience of the 1995 Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake as a graduate student at the University of Kobe, my participation in helping to plan an early response to the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami as a resident researcher with the Marine Corps Force Pacific in Hawaii, and a decade of research, writing, simulations, exercises, and lessons And conferences.

The disaster demonstrated that, in fact, American forces were necessary to respond to the disaster here, but an overconfidence in Japan’s own capabilities and a political unwillingness to engage with the politically charged US military at the local, local, and national levels prevented coordination and cooperation. From occurring early. The disaster brought the American and Japanese armies together in a way that had never been before. Interestingly, it also brought the three branches of the Self-Defense Forces together in an unprecedented manner, forming (and in some cases forcing) a unification between them.

But the second pillar of my recommendations was important to me, if not more. Specifically, she emphasized the need for vulnerable communities to work with the US military early in any disaster – to get to know each other, visit each other’s community (bases and units, in the case of the US military) and discover each other’s strengths, weaknesses, fears, and questions. Of course, when the U.S. military is asked (through appropriate official channels), it will respond, but it can do so better if it already has a working relationship with community leaders and counterparts, and mutual trust is established.

Engaging the US military early on is essential due to the scale of potential disasters facing Japan, and the isolation of some communities along the coasts or in mountainous regions. The Syrian Democratic Forces, responsible first and foremost for the defense of the country, will find themselves numerically stretched out to be everywhere at the same time, even when their reserves are called up (as we saw during the 2011 disaster response).

Of course, there will be others involved as well – police, fire, other first responders, government officials, volunteers, domestic and foreign nonprofits, NGOs, and the private sector. But while each of them has important tasks, they cannot replace the rapid and large response capabilities of the army, whose role is initially crucial.

Thus, the US military, already in Japan, could play a support role for the Self-Defense Forces (it did so in 2011, as well as in the 1964 Niigata earthquake and the 1959 Ise Bay cyclone relief operations). But it is better to work on these arrangements in advance, especially in the scenario of the Nankai Tru earthquake, which would affect an area from Shizuoka to Miyazaki and beyond, rather than meeting each other in the middle of an airport runway hit by a tsunami. Cards there.

While my 2006 recommendations were unfortunately ignored, after 2011 I was allowed to pursue these arrangements and succeeded in developing formal relations between the US Marines, with whom I worked as the deputy assistant chief of staff at the time, and Shizuoka, Kochi, Wakayama and Mie prefectures – the most vulnerable of the categories Weak – plus six other “informal” relationships with key actors and organizations in Aichi, Tokushima, Ehime, Okayama and Hyogo provinces.

Every minute counted, because we didn’t know when the next large-scale disaster would happen, and so every minute that allowed these relationships to grow and develop was a blessing. But over time, and especially as affected areas recover and rebuild, the level of self-satisfaction increases.

This is the overriding concern of many who have experienced disasters or have been closely involved in the responses: those in leadership or the common people will forget the lessons learned and be judged for repeating the same mistakes over again.

It is often said that “the generals are fighting the last battle”. The same can probably be said of disaster responders. However, each disaster presents new challenges.

Today, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic (a disaster in itself), it is difficult to assemble volunteers in the aftermath of the disaster in the first place, and a local or prefectural government may feel the need to impose restrictions on exit from – area volunteers are coming, like Kumamoto Prefecture after the floods last summer.

Moreover, the Covid-19 virus has made evacuation shelters more difficult to manage, due to social distancing and health requirements, with more facilities needed to deal with the surplus. Moreover, obtaining and dispatching additional supplies (now masks, face shields, gloves, gowns, etc., in larger quantities) should be included in the calculations.

And that’s just with COVID-19, which is changing the dynamics of past relief operations.

What scared him the most was the fall of a quadrant (or more) of the Nankai Trough earthquake, which would potentially trigger a massive tsunami. In my estimation, it would be like the Great Kant earthquake of 1923 (with its devastating fires causing the most deaths), the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake (with collapsed houses and other structures causing the most deaths), and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (with its waves The very destroyer that was responsible for most of the dead).

Depending on the season, there could be a devastating tornado immediately after the 1959 Ise Bay disaster, which would disrupt relief operations and put early responders and volunteers in harm’s way. If it is in the summer, it will be especially difficult to deal with timely disposal of carcasses. There are not enough morgues, refrigerated vehicles or crematoriums to handle the load.

My point of raising only some of these concerns is to say that while the lessons must be learned, we cannot at the same time get stuck in strict ways of thinking about responses based on the past and we must be careful enough to anticipate all future scenarios. I hated hearing the word soteigai (unexpected) after March 2011 because I knew it wasn’t unexpected.

The deaths at the time of the disaster were not only sad, but also the fact that many people die as a result of a physical or mental illness afterward amidst the despair of losing family members, their home and possessions, one’s livelihood, etc. As readers know, more people died from what is known as kanrenshi (disaster related death) after the April 2016 Kumamoto earthquake than the earthquake itself. Moreover, Kanrinche is responsible for a number of deaths (about 3,800) over 3,700 dead and missing in the most devastated area of ​​Tohoku, Ishinomaki city.

Just like the disappointment of winning a war but losing peace, it is doubly sad to lose someone who was once saved in a disaster but who has lost hope or health. There is a great interconnection between disaster care, recovery, mitigation and resilience before they strike. The balance between recovery and remembering is delicate.

Robert de Eldridge is the author of “Operation Tomodachi”, “Before Operation Tomodachi” and many other books and articles on disaster preparedness and response. He is the Director of North Asia, the Global Risk Mitigation Foundation.

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