Special Issue on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Part V

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (sp) ◽  
pp. 769-769
Author(s):  
Katsuki Takiguchi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Urban Safety

Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) published its first issue in August, 2006. Since then, we have published six issues a year on a bimonthly basis. JDR is an academic journal aimed at bringing a broad, comprehensive discussion to the subject of disasters, and thus contributing to the field of disaster prevention and reduction. Its comprehensive coverage harbors the risk of becoming unfocussed or fostering unsubstantiated conclusions. At JDR, we have dealt with this risk by making most issues special feature issues, and inviting specialists in the relevant fields as guest editors. The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March, 2011, five years after our first issue was published. It was a Mw9.0 earthquake that occurred off the Pacific coast of the Tohoku region. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which produced huge casualties, amounting to over 18,000 dead or missing persons. The disaster was accompanied by a nuclear plant accident, an unprecedented event in mankind’s history. The catastrophic accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Company, resulted in core meltdown and the release of radioactive material. At JDR, we considered it our responsibility to publish, apart from our regular issues, special issues on the Great East Japan Earthquake consisting of five yearly issues beginning with the first issue in 2012. This issue, Part 5, is the final issue. We would like to thank all of the authors who submitted articles for the five special issues, the reviewers, and many others who contributed. The special issues project on the Great East Japan Earthquake will be passed down to a special issue on the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes occurred on April, 2016 in Kumamoto, Japan. Co-Editors: Suminao Murakami (Editor-in-Chief; Representative, Laboratory of Urban Safety Planning, Japan) Haruo Hayashi (Editor-in-Chief; President, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Japan) Hideaki Karaki (President, Foundation of Food Safety and Security, Japan)

Special Issue on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Part IV

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (sp) ◽  
pp. 709-709
Author(s):  
Katsuki Takiguchi
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Current Issue ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Earthquake Disaster ◽  
Kanto Earthquake ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Many

The basic policy of the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), as a multidisciplinary academicjournal, is to cover all types of disasters ? except for war ? through a broad comprehensive perspective. Since its inaugural issue in August 2006, the JDR has been published bimonthly,with six issues a year. 2015 marks the tenth year since the JDRfs first issue. Among the many events happening during this decade is the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster which was induced by the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake.This event had two major features ? that the tsunami accompanying the earthquake caused the main damage and that it triggered a nuclear hazard accident at a nuclear power plant. The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster was a unprecedented earthquake disaster called catastrophic hazard following two others ? the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake Disasterthat leveled Tokyo and the 1995 Hanshin Awaji Earthquake Disaster that destroyed parts of Osaka and Kobe. In view of this catastrophic hazardfs scale, the JDR decided to publish special annual issues on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster for five years since 2012 in addition to its regularissues. No publication fee was charged to contributors and support was asked from corporations. Papers on the special issues are published mainly online as an e-journal though printed editions are published for archival purposes. The current issue is the fourth of these special issues, and contributors have covered the 2011 disaster from many a wide range of perspectives. 21 papers were submitted and 8 papers are accepted for publication after peer review. The editors are confident that, like the previous three issues, this issue fully measure up to the quality that was expected for the special issue. I wish to express my gratitude to the contributors and reviewers and to thank corporations for their invaluable support.

scholarly journals Special Issue on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Part II

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (sp) ◽  
pp. 729-729
Author(s):  
Haruo Hayashi
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Disaster Reduction ◽  
Multidisciplinary Research ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
Earthquake Disaster ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi

The Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), published bimonthly in English since 2006 as a Japan-based academic journal, promotes multidisciplinary research on disaster reduction due to all hazards – natural, unintended and intended. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster on March 11, 2011, we have worked as our duty to provide a forum for all stakeholders and researchers in the world to describe what happened scientifically in terms of human and property damage and in subsequent social and economic damage by this unprecedented occurrence, including the incident involving Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. As one contribution, JDR is publishing special annual issues for the next five years on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster – with NO PAGE CHARGES TO CONTRIBUTORS. This effort began in 2012. The purpose of these special issues is to record, communicate and share the lessons learned from this disaster. In our second special issue, 16 papers were submitted and we are proud to introduce 11 papers touching on different aspects of the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster. We are sure you will find these papers interesting and informative. We also look forward to receiving contributions for the third special issue, which will be published in the summer of 2014.

Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (sp) ◽  
pp. 421-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suminao Murakami
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
Earthquake Disaster ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Social Disaster ◽  
American Society

Concerned experts and others from a wide range of fields are required to take part in studies on “social” disaster phenomena such as earthquakes and typhoons causing drastic human and property damage and leaving subsequent social and economic destruction. In 2006, the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) decided to be published as an academic journal in English for global society to help expand research beyond a domestic scope. The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster – in the 6th year of the journal’s publication, has made an impact both domestically and globally due to the unprecedented earthquake and tsunami and resulting radiation leakage at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. JDR will annually publish special issues on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster beginning in this issue of 2012, for five years, for the purpose of informing, recording and utilizing lessons learned from the disaster. Page charges are in principle free and widespread contributions are welcomed. I have studied disasters from the viewpoint of a planner. Nobody who is active and living in society is irrelevant to wide-scale events related to such disasters, and I still feel that it is important for people from a variety of fields to visit devastated sites, hear from the people experiencing such disasters and make their own standpoints. In American society, for example, disaster measures against earthquakes and other disasters have been studied involving a wide range of experts and others. After the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe, research groups consisting of wide range of experts came to be formed in Japan and environments developed to produce a multidisciplinary journal such as the JDR. The ultimate goal of planned research is human research. A society is needed in which “human power” can be manifested in all aspects such as reviving reconstruction and rehabilitation. This is because contributions by researchers from widespread fields are anticipated in the future.

scholarly journals School education for disaster risk reduction in Japan after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET)

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuya Fujioka ◽  
Yasushi Sakakibara
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Japanese Archipelago ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Education Today ◽  
The Japanese Archipelago

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET), reminded us Japanese of the harsh realities of the natural envi-ronment in the Japanese Archipelago and the importance of crisis management systems. However, the treatment of disasters has not been neglected in Japan, where natural disasters have historically occurred. In Japan, here are two separate approaches to handling natural disasters in formal education. The first is learning within specific subject areas, particularly social studies and science. The second is educational activities that take place outside subject teaching hours. Although natural disasters are common in the Japanese Archipelago, this arc-shaped string of islands, surrounded by the ocean and possessing a rich natural landscape, has greatly influenced Japanese culture, science and technology, and education. The Pacific Ocean coastline of the Tohoku region has been frequently hit in recent years by large killer waves (Tsunami) that have repeatedly resulted in serious damage. The main difference between the 2011 GEJET, and the previous tsunamis that hit the region is the accident that oc-curred at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Because the perspective of understanding science and technology from a social context is closely related to issues in education today.

Special Issue on Real World Robot Challenge in Tsukuba – Technology for the Coexistence with Human Beings –

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Takita ◽  
Shin’ichi Yuta ◽  
Takashi Tsubouchi ◽  
Koichi Ozaki
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Grand Challenge ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Mobile Environment ◽  
Human Operators

Robotics researchers appear to have shifted their focus since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Despite a large-scale national R&D project on Advanced Robots for Hazardous Environments for 8 years from 1983, the technology has not been put to use effectively following the Great Hanshin Earthquake and researchers are starting to look more closely at applications enabling robots to replace human beings, e.g., by rescuing victims of earthquake and flood disasters. A good example is Quince and the remote-controlled heavy equipment used to handle the pyroclastic flow at Unzen volcano in 1991 and then mobilized at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Robotics researchers of the past only used to describe their dream proposals when asked what robots could accomplish. Since the 2011 disaster event, however, it has become clear that the issues we should be looking at are those of developing robots that are practical and useful. If we are asked what role the real-world competition Tsukuba Challenge plays in this context, would first recommend that those who hope to take part visit the actual site and see for themselves what they must do to field a winning robot. The Tsukuba Challenge site includes public thoroughfares traversed by pedestrians and cyclists. Although there are no cars or motorcycles on these paths, almost anything can happen. From hot summer until cooler fall when the official run is held daily temperature, rain, wind and typhoons, and trees – all of which must be detected for navigation – undergo many changes. These changes require that robots navigate accurately in this real-world environment. In general, robotics research papers are accepted for publication if robots can navigate as planned in a restricted and fixed mobile environment even if they can do so only once. In the Tsukuba Challenge, however, many things can go wrong and robot maneuvers can become unstable or even nonmobile, regardless of successful navigation in laboratory settings. There is no space here to discuss all possible factors, but the established navigation method by one paper is not always successful and responsible in the actual Tsukuba Challenge environment. Robots historically came to be as devices operated by human beings, but those taking part in the Challenge must be controlled by computers instead of human operators. This means that it must be confirmed that robots can operate as required in experiments meeting various conditions. Teams may conduct ten or so trial runs a year on the actual route so that their systems can be adequately adjusted and modified. The total process that competing in the Tsukuba Challenge requires also has an educational effect in grooming new talent in robotics. The Challenge differs from the DARPA Grand Challenge and Urban Challenge, held from 2004 to 2007, in the size – robots must not be too big and must not appear threatening – and the need to take the presence of human beings into consideration. Although the task from 2007 to 2012 had been only to navigate a preset route and reach a final goal, still the percentage of successful runs has declined. From 2013 on, another task has been added – that of locating specific persons (search targets) within given areas – to encourage the use of advanced technology in realizing useful robots. Those interested may see the results on the Tsukuba Challenge website as follow: http://www.tsukubachallenge.jp/tc2013. The selection of articles for this special issue emphasized the following criteria: 1) For robots successfully completing required tasks, describing and discussing the superiority of the control technology and results. 2) For unsuccessful robots, clearly analyzing how the actual run differed from researchers’ expectations and pinpointing the underlying causes of failure. The submitted papers describe technologies that have enabled robots to navigate in spaces shared with human beings, and we hope that a study of these papers will spur readers to accelerate advances in autonomous mobile robots.

Pacific Solidarity and Atomic Aggression

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Avenell
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Industrial Pollution ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Mariana Trench ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Ocean Dumping

This chapter traces the emergence and evolution of a transnational movement opposing the planned dumping of Japanese radioactive waste material in the Pacific Ocean near the Mariana Trench. With its growing stockpile of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, in the 1970s Japanese officials hatched plans to dump radioactive material in steel canisters in the Pacific. In response, activists on islands in Micronesia mobilized in staunch opposition in the late 1970s. They were joined by Japanese antinuclear groups who brought Pacific activists to Japan to give speeches and lobby officials. The chapter explores how this transnational struggle was able to force a postponement and ultimately the abandonment of the ocean dumping plan. As with movements opposing industrial pollution export in the 1970s, this mobilization opened Japanese activists’ eyes to the nuclear victimization of Pacific peoples and, in turn, forced a reconsideration of Japan as the only victim of radiation worldwide.

scholarly journals Special Issue on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Part VI – Thoughts About the Great Disaster Now That Ten Years Have Passed –

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 907-907
Author(s):  
Katsuki Takiguchi ◽  
Haruo Hayashi
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Electronic Format ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Disaster Research ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
Scholarly Journals ◽  
Earthquake Disaster ◽  
Major Disaster

A holistic and comprehensive perspective on society is essential to disaster research. However, at one time, the world did not have any scholarly journals that dealt with disasters from a holistic point of view. This situation gave rise to the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), the first issue of which was published in August 2006. In principle, six issues are published annually, with special or extra issues also published in some years. The Great East Japan Earthquake struck in March 2011, five years after the first issue of the JDR. Following this incident, we decided to publish a special issue whenever there was a major disaster. All accepted papers and articles were to be published free of charge, in electronic format. So far, eight special issues have been published. Since this year 2021 marks the tenth anniversary of that disaster, we at the JDR have decided to publish a special issue of notes on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster. The selected theme is “Thoughts About the Great Disaster Now That Ten Years Have Passed.” As an academic journal dealing comprehensively with disasters and disaster risk reduction, we asked people working in all disaster-related fields to submit, from their unique perspectives, their views or proposals in any area or subject regarding what changes have taken place, what has remained the same, or what is needed in the future. We have the twelve notes presented here in this Special Issue on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster: Part VI. We hope that these notes provide seeds for further progress in the field of disaster research. Lastly, the editors would like to thank all contributors who submitted their manuscripts and the reviewers who provided valuable feedback with their constructive comments.

Special Issue on Structural Engineering of Nuclear Related Facilities

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-339
Author(s):  
Katsuki Takiguchi
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power Station ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Structural Engineering ◽  
Radioactive Waste Disposal ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Plant Design ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Power Station ◽  
Wide Range

Since it was first used, nuclear energy’s control has been an important issue. With the generation of electricity as a major nuclear energy application, the improvement of nuclear power generation technology has been required by society, including power plant design, construction, and maintenance and radioactive waste disposal. Nuclear facilities must also take into account disaster prevention, as in the case of earthquakes and terrorist attacks, particularly because of the extensive potential and actual range of effects. This has made nuclear energy issues important considerations in JDR editorial meetings. In the July 16, 2007, case of the Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake, quake ground motion equaled or exceeded that presumed in the design of the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station, the world’s largest nuclear power station. Specific safety objectives for nuclear power plants include stopping the nuclear reaction, cooling the nuclear reactor, preventing radioactive material emission, and shielding surroundings from radiation - all of which were almost completely achieved in this case. Many problems were also revealed, however. JDR examined a special issue on Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station earthquake resistance at an editorial meeting but determined that such a topic remains premature. In its stead, we have planned a number featuring the structural engineering of nuclear related facilities as a first step in a series of special issues on nuclear energy. The papers for this number were submitted mainly by the presenters of 20th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology, held in Espoo, Finland, in 2009 with the catch phrase “Challenges Facing Nuclear Renaissance.” We greatly appreciate the many contributions to this issue, and would like to thank the reviewers, without whose cooperation this number could not have been published. Please note that, independent of special numbers such as this one, JDR looks forward to receiving papers on a wide range of fields related to disaster.

Fire and Smoke Protection Measures for High-Rise Buildings

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 629-643
Author(s):  
Suminao Murakami ◽  
◽  
Yoshiteru Murosaki ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Protection ◽  
Emergency Evacuation ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Safety Planning ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
National Research Institute ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Urban Safety ◽  
Hanshin Earthquake

Upon planning the JDR Special issue on Fire and Emergency Evacuation in a High-rise Building, an interview was held on August 15, 2011, at Laboratory of Urban Safety Planning in Chiyodaku, Tokyo. Prof. Yoshiteru Murosaki of Kwansei Gakuin University, who was involved in the recovery project of the Great Hanshin earthquake and has served as the chairman of the National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster, interviewed Dr. Suminao Murakami (JDR Editorin-chief), Honorary Director of Laboratory of Urban Safety Planning, has been involved in many disaster prevention plans as well as having experienced many disaster sites in Japan, on the theme of fire protection measures for high-rise buildings.

Danube Field Excursion 1988: Tritium Content of River Water; Radioactivity of Danube Sediments

1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Rank ◽  
F. J. Maringer ◽  
W. Papesch ◽  
V. Rajner
Keyword(s):  
River Water ◽  
Bottom Sediments ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Reactor Accident ◽  
Tritium Content ◽  
Fine Sediments ◽  
Fish Samples ◽  
Field Excursion

Water, sediment, and fish samples were collected during the Danube excursion 1988, within a coordinated sampling program of the Radiology Working Group of the “Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft Donauforschung ” (K.Hübel, Munich; I. Kurcz, Budapest; D.Rank, Vienna). The H-3 content of the river water and the radioactivity of the bottom sediments were measured at the BVFA Arsenal, Vienna. The determined H-3 content of the Danube water corresponds with the long-term trend in the H-3 content of the hydrosphere; the values lie in the range of 3 Bq/kg downstream from Belgrade, upstream from Belgrade they are about 4 Bq/kg. It was only in the waste water plume of the nuclear power station of Kozloduj that a slightly elevated H-3 value - 6 Bq/kg - was determined. The content of the sediments of artificial radionuclides was found, at the time of the Danube field excursion, to be almost exclusively due to the radioactive material released following the reactor accident at Chernobyl in April 1986 (mainly Cs-137 and Cs-134). As a consequence of the air currents and precipitation conditions prevailing at the time of the accident, the bottom sediments in the lower course of the Danube were less contaminated than those in the upper course. The fine sediments were found to contain over 3000 Bq/kg of Cs-137 in the upper course of the Danube.

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