In Japan, the Fear of Disaster is the Beginning of Wisdom

March 11 last year, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan triggered a tsunami that left more 15, 000 people dead and ignited nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. To show the world how the country was recovering from that unfortunate incident, in March this year, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) organized a guided […]

March 11 last year, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan triggered a tsunami that left more 15, 000 people dead and ignited nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. To show the world how the country was recovering from that unfortunate incident, in March this year, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) organized a guided tour of some affected sites for nine journalists from the Middle East and Africa (where I represented my organization and Nigeria).

Japan, the country’s Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Relations Mr. Noriyuki Shikata told us in a briefing before the commencement of our tour, is prone to earthquake and tsunami because it is 70 percent mountainous and surrounded by water. This, Mr Shikata continues, makes response to natural disasters very important to the country. We were at the famous Roppongi Hills (Mori Building Co., Ltd.), Toyota Motor Corporation, Kawasaki City, Ukishima Solar Power Plant, Fukushima Agricultural Technology Center, Japanese Red Cross Society Ishinomaki Hospital, Natori City, JR East Shinkansen Rolling Stock Center, Sendai Airport, and many other places.

Hanging out at the Roppongi Hills

At the Roppongi Hills (owned Mori Building Co., Ltd.), we were briefed and later conducted round by  Mr. Shuichi SANO, Senior General Manager, Building Management Dept., Earthquake Response Office and Mr. Kenichi KIKUCHI, Director of Roppongi Energy Service Co., Ltd. Roppongi Hills is a complex facility comprised of its symbolic skyscraper office building 238 meters in height with 54 floors above ground, as well as residences, a hotel and cultural facilities. The facility is equipped with a giant in-house power generating facility nearly 10,000 square meters in size, also performs power supply with triple backup sources consisting of city gas, electricity from Tokyo Electric Power Company and kerosene. This ability to generate power, in addition to its safety measures, is what I consider remarkable.

“During a period of growing metropolitan power shortage lasting more than one month following the Fukushima Power Plant accident, Roppongi Hills not only provided electricity for its own facilities but also continued to supply Tokyo Electric Power Company with 4,000 kilowatts (the equivalent of electricity for approximately 1,100 standard Japanese households) of surplus power,” Mr Kenichi KIKUCHI, Director of Roppongi Energy Service Co., Ltd. told us.

He also said that in a worst case scenario in which both natural gas and TEPCO supply are lost, the power generation system can be fueled by kerosene “although when operating on the third tier of supply, the amount of electricity generated is designed to power only systems for safety and security,” he added.

Mr Shuichi SANO, Senior General Manager, Building Management Department, Earthquake Response Office, told us that “The Roppongi Hills was conceived as a place where people can work while others can seek refuge in, not run away from in times of disaster. The buildings are equipped with state-of-the art earthquake-resistant features, such as seismic damping walls, green mass dampers and emergency power generator systems. As a result of these measures, the buildings can withstand earthquakes with virtually no damage, ensuring an extremely high degree of business continuity for tenants.”

He added that an Early Warning Emergency Earthquake Announcement System has been installed in the company’s major buildings which makes it possible to prepare for earthquakes by receiving the emergency earthquake announcement from the Japan Metrological Agency several seconds before the actual shaking begins to occur. They also organize annual general disaster drills (a total of 32 drills per year) which include 7 annual disaster and evacuation drills for each employee residing in company owned residences. The company has stockpile of food provisions.

“For instance, the March 11 earthquake occurred at 14:46 local time. But by 15:08, all staff immediately shifted to the organizational system for earthquake response. They quickly visited all tenants and residents to check on their safety and verified that there were no major injuries. The disaster readiness staff from nearby company-owned residences also quickly moved to restore and provide support to each property,” Mr Sano said.

Inside the Shinkansen bullet train

The Shinkansen (Japanese word for new trunk line) also known as the “Bullet Train” is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. The trains have a speed of 320 km/h (199 mph).  At the Shinkansen Rolling Stock Center where maintenance and other safety works are being carried out, officials told us that because of the risk of earthquakes, a detection and alarm system was introduced in 1992 which enables automatic braking of bullet trains in the case of large earthquakes.

“During the March 11 earthquake, due to the early detection system, at 2:47 PM, a seismograph in Miyagi Prefecture 50 kilometers from the tracks detected ground acceleration of 120 gals, which is the benchmark for stopping train operations. At that time, 27 Shinkansen trains were operating in the northeastern part of Japan, but they were able to put on their emergency brakes seconds before the disaster struck, without derailing,” officials of the East Japan Railway said.

One of the officials said that “Our center has been improving our Shinkansen train energy-saving performance by adopting a regenerative brake system and inverter control, by making the trains light-weight, and by reducing the air-resistance of car-body structures. We work to improve the environment, by activities such as recycling scrap materials, reusing parts from scrapped train cars and separating garbage on operating trains for recycling.”

When it was time for questions and answers, I wanted to know what happens in case of emergency since we were told that only one driver is assigned to a train. “The worst that can happen is for the driver to die or faint. If that should happen, the train has been programmed to stop at the nearest station. So I advise you to feel relaxed as you travel back to Tokyo by the Shinkansen bullet train,” he answered. We had earlier used from Tokyo to Koriyama (in Fukushima Prefecture). True, we all enjoyed the trip in the train which has a restroom, a mobile cafeteria that sells drinks, snacks, and so many other useful things.

Submarine doors for Sendai airport

We also visited Sendai Airport, where its president Mr. Katsuhiko Sato informed us about their experience during the March 11 disaster. The airport, which sits few meters away from the Pacific Ocean, bore tremendous damage to its terminal buildings and runways. But the president, Mr Sato said “Swift recovery was made possible by collective public and private efforts involving both Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and U.S. Forces in Japan, efforts which at first enabled the starting of airfreight services only five days after the disaster, as well as renewal of commercial flight service on the 13th of the very next month. By September 25th, 2011 passenger terminals reopened while complete restoration of airport operations was achieved in just over six months after the disaster.”

He said though the Sendai Airport is not a designated tsunami evacuation shelter but many people including workers and others from the community rushed to it because of its modern design and high profile. “Nearly 1300 people ended up squeezing onto the second and third floors when the tsunami reached the airport. Many people outside and on the ground floor were caught in the waves and died. Those high enough endured 2 difficult days of cold, inadequate food (the airport authorities decided to buy all the food at the restaurants in the airport), water and sanitation.”

“Based on our experience, and as part of tsunami countermeasure construction, we have moved our disaster control center from the first floor, which was flooded, to the mezzanine floor, and reinforcement construction was also performed primarily on the building’s east side which had been infiltrated by the tsunami. We also changed the revolving doors and replaced them with the type you see in submarines so as to stop water from entering the building. The reason for this is that submarine doors are usually domed out in the direction of positive pressure,” Mr Sato said.

Other interesting places visited

At the Fukushima Agricultural Technology Center, we had to undergo test for radiation before we were allowed in. We also had to change our shoes to enable us see the how the centre was conducting radiation monitoring on vegetables, fruits, mushroom and edible wild products, grain, seafood and also individual beef cattle inspections. Then we visited Kawasaki where we had a look at Sharp-made solar cell modules used at the Ukishima Solar Power Plant and Kyocera-made solar cell modules used at the Ogishima solar Power Plant. The Ukishima plant began its operation on August 10, 2011 with about 7,000kW output while Ogishima plant began its operation from December 2011 with output of 13,000kW.

Through promotion of the energy conservation and renewable energy industry, Kawasaki has become a model city for a shift to renewable energy in its efforts to overcome its history of environmental pollution as an exemplary model of advanced and leading edge technology, as part of aid in Japan’s goal for “status as an environmental energy power” indicated in Japan’s “new growth strategy” endorsed by the Government at the Cabinet meeting in 2010.

When we visited the Toyota Motor Corporation, I came to realize that the company was into other business apart from making automobile. It was also into property and more. At a dinner with the officials, they told us about the status of the company’s group-wide earthquake disaster recovery and its vision for future disaster-area support, as well as talks in regards to future Toyota business prospects in the Middle East and areas of Africa. Officials told us that the company aims globally at “establishing a low-carbon society, a recycling-based society, environmental protection, and a society in harmony with nature.” They also said that the company is reducing the environmental impact of their vehicles for every stage of the vehicle life cycle.

We were also at the expansive Sendai plains where Mr. Tadashi Watanabe, Vice Chairman of the Board, OISCA Japan (NGO), briefed us. We were conducted round a grove of pine trees which were planted about 15 years ago as a “tsunami forest”. The large grove of trees are said to have the ability to dissipate tsunami energy. But our visit showed that the trees were uprooted and served as indicators of the flow direction of the Tsunami. At Natori city, we interviewed the Deputy Mayor Mr. Takamoto Ota where he talked about rescue activities during the disaster and the present status of recovery efforts. We were also at the Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital which treated victims during the disaster.

At every stage of our visit, which lasted 10 days, you see officials doing their work diligently without waiting to be tipped while the citizens give them the benefit of the doubt. The people trust their government and the government is working hard not to betray the people’s trust. This way the government is able to tackle disasters which occur from time to time.