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
In Memory of Those who Lost Their Lives (19 228) So ma, Fukushima Prefecture
Volunteering Presentation Themes Eritrea Experience with Fred Hollows Foundation (1993 1998) 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
Hakuin Ekaku
Kawamura Sensei
Sandi Buckley (Kamiaso, Gifu; ANU, Canberra) Introduction to Green Tea (o cha) 1973
Later, Distinguished Professor
Introduction to Way of the Tea, Mori Group Volunteers, Sendai, 2000
Basis for Volunteering
Nishihira Sensei - Matsu no Kai
Sakura Matsuri, Cowra NSW
Hobby Hiking in Basho footsteps: Jo dogahama ( 浄土ヶ浜 )
Dr Hitomi Nakanishi lead researcher
Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture Ishinomaki City Sendai Kyoto JAPAN Tokyo Primary Quake Epicenter: Magnitude 9.0 (March 11th, 14:46)
Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, March 2011
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. 50 000 people were evacuated to 250 shelters spread across the city.
Slow Reconstruction: Ishinomaki from Hiyoriyama Park, April 2011 and 2015
Major Impacts on Schooling - Location of Primary Schools Ishinomaki Seriously Damaged Restarted in April-May 2011 X Completely Destroyed
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)
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
A digression on personal relationships with Japanese in this story Independent Advisor to NSW Government Department of Planning 1980s
Sydney Harbour Tunnel Proposal Kumagai Gumi - Transfield
Dr Arioka, Director SHT 1988
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
Debris Treatment in Place
Green Hill Model ( SLIM)
And the solution is..? Seawall, Karakuwa ( 唐桑 ) Miyagi
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
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
Volunteer 28 April 1966 Who? Where in Japan?