Presentation to Australia Japan Society New South Wales Branch 16 March 2016

Transcription

1 Presentation to Australia Japan Society New South Wales Branch 16 March 2016 JAPAN EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI FIVE YEARS ON REFLECTIONS ON VOLUNTEERING John Black Emeritus Professor of Transport Engineering

2 In Memory of Those who Lost Their Lives (19 228) So ma, Fukushima Prefecture

3 Volunteering Presentation Themes Eritrea Experience with Fred Hollows Foundation ( ) Contrast with Japanese experience posttsunami March 2011 in Tohoku region Specifically: unpaid research into on-going problems facing residents / school children of Ishinomaki 5 years later; work of NPO SLIM on debris clean-up solutions Complex relationships that influenced volunteering why I was in Sendai 11 March 2011

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6 Hakuin Ekaku

7 Kawamura Sensei

8 Sandi Buckley (Kamiaso, Gifu; ANU, Canberra) Introduction to Green Tea (o cha) 1973

9 Later, Distinguished Professor

10 Introduction to Way of the Tea, Mori Group Volunteers, Sendai, 2000

11 Basis for Volunteering

12 Nishihira Sensei - Matsu no Kai

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14 Sakura Matsuri, Cowra NSW

15 Hobby Hiking in Basho footsteps: Jo dogahama ( 浄土ヶ浜 )

16 Dr Hitomi Nakanishi lead researcher

17 Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture Ishinomaki City Sendai Kyoto JAPAN Tokyo Primary Quake Epicenter: Magnitude 9.0 (March 11th, 14:46)

18 Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, March 2011

19 Immediate Impact tsunami height 8.6 m waves inundated about 30% of the coastal plain approx 3,300 people died; 428 people are still officially missing (as of December January 2015) 70% of houses (53,742) affected; 40% (22,357) destroyed people were evacuated to 250 shelters spread across the city.

20 Slow Reconstruction: Ishinomaki from Hiyoriyama Park, April 2011 and 2015

21 Major Impacts on Schooling - Location of Primary Schools Ishinomaki Seriously Damaged Restarted in April-May 2011 X Completely Destroyed

22 Post-disaster: School facilities destroyed or relocated, or used as temporary community shelters July 2011: 3,892 people staying in 75 evacuation centres (32 schools) April 2015: 63 school facilities designated as evacuation centres for mid- to long-term period children who commuted to primary/junior-high school from temporary housing 1,500 1,100 children went to school outside of their designated school district (as of March 2012)

23 Transport Problems - Interviews Students in temporary residential accommodation have long distances to existing or new school Limited public transport services Countering traditional behaviour parents have to drive pupils to/from school Damage to road infrastructure, missing traffic signals/lights and debris that remained for a relatively long time after the disaster problem for walking cycling

24 A digression on personal relationships with Japanese in this story Independent Advisor to NSW Government Department of Planning 1980s

25 Sydney Harbour Tunnel Proposal Kumagai Gumi - Transfield

26 Dr Arioka, Director SHT 1988

27 Strategic Lifecycle Infrastructure Management (SLIM), Tokyo Executive Director Dr Masaki Arioka NPO Membership engineers who built Japan Fieldwork in Miyagi and Iwate coastline documenting progress of tsunami debris clean-up Japanese government policy v. innovation

28 Debris Treatment in Place

29 Green Hill Model ( SLIM)

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32 And the solution is..? Seawall, Karakuwa ( 唐桑 ) Miyagi

33 Finally, Volunteering - Reflections Eritrea War of liberation; Eye surgeon brand image ; government request; creation of national engineering school Tohoku unprecedented disaster by Japanese standards; system unable to cope with inundation of foreign volunteers Longer-term impacts need local champions Stories of survivors important PTSD (book) Challenge to Japanese governments in future

34 Finally, How did I arrive at a half a century of personal relationships in this story? 50 YEARS OF PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH JAPAN AND LONGER FAMILY CONNECTIONS Acknowledgements: Tohoku, Nagoya, Osaka, Saitama Universities; Professor Kazuaki Miyamoto; Japan Society for Promotion of Science; Society for Strategic Lifecycle Management (SLIM) Tokyo; Matsu no Kai, Sendai; Urban Research and Planning Pty Ltd (URaP), St Leonards; Dr Sandra Buckley; Dr Hitomi Nakanishi (University of Canberra); Cray Valley High School, Kent, England

35 Volunteer 28 April 1966 Who? Where in Japan?