Message from the Winner

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-5
Author(s):  
Yuichiro Usuda
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Heavy Rain ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake ◽  
Western Japan

I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the honor of receiving this prestigious award. The award has been presented to me for the “Special Issue on NIED Frontier Researches on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2017” of JDR Vol.12 No.5, for which I was the guest editor. I heard that this special issue has been the most downloaded over the past three years. NIED, to which I belong, is an institute that deals with natural disasters comprehensively. Since 2016, we have been working to become a “core organization for innovation in disaster resilience science and technology” as a new seven-year plan. Japan is a country prone to disasters, with many large-scale natural disasters occurring every year. Recent examples would be the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, 2017 Nasu Avalanche, Northern-Kyushu Heavy Rain, 2018 Eruption of Mt. Kusatsu-Shirane, Western-Japan Heavy Rain, Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake, and 2019 Typhoon #19. We should collect “intelligence” related to natural disasters in multiple fields to reduce our disaster risk and improve our resilience. The Special Issue is a compilation of research results from individual fields. I am elated that the first special issue of NIED has gained such attention. NIED will continue to conduct research across multiple fields. We hope that NIED’s activities will lead to collaboration with many people and that the integration of intelligence will improve disaster resilience in Japan and all over the world.

scholarly journals Special Issue on NIED Frontier Research on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 1139-1139
Author(s):  
Haruo Hayashi ◽  
Eiichi Fukuyama
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Heavy Rain ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Rain Event ◽  
Special Issue

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) is working on three tasks: predicting disasters, preventing damage, and realizing speedy reconstruction and recovery efforts in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, torrential rains, blizzards, and ice storms. In the last three years of the NIED’s fourth mid/long term plan period, which began in 2016, natural disasters have occurred every year, including earthquake disasters such as the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake (M7.3) and the 2018 Iburi, Hokkaido, earthquake (M7.1). Disasters of the rainfall include the heavy rainfall in the northern Kyushu (Fukuoka and Oita) in July 2017, the heavy rain event in southwestern Japan in July 2018, the rainfall in northern Kyushu (Saga) in August 2019, and the heavy rainfall in Kanto and Tohoku in October 2019. There were also other disasters: an avalanche accident on Nasudake in 2017 and a phreatic eruption of Kusatsu-Shiranesan in 2018. Due to the above-mentioned very frequent occurrence of such natural disasters on the Japanese islands, our institute has conducted several research projects to mitigate the damage from such disasters and to accelerate the recovery from them. As the third NIED special issue in the Journal of Disaster Research, several related research results were presented such as those on seismic disasters (Wakai et al., Nakazawa et al., and Ohsumi et al.), those on climatic disasters (Nakamura, and Ishizawa and Danjo), and those of their integrated researches for disaster risk reduction (Cui et al. and Nakajima et al.). Although the achievements detailed in these papers are the results of individual research, the NIED hopes that these results as a whole will be fully utilized to promote science and technology for disaster risk reduction and resilience. The NIED hopes that this special issue awakens the readers’ interest in new research and, of course, creates an opportunity for further collaborative works with us.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-343
Author(s):  
Kenji Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Business Continuity ◽  
Corporate Value ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Management Approaches

Among the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were a large number of new findings, including which preparations functioned as planned and which did not. Now that a year has elapsed since the earthquake disaster, the parties concerned need to reexamine those measures which are yet to be implemented since we should not see the same results after a large scale disaster in the future as those we saw in the past. In this JDR Special Issue on Business Continuity Plan (BCP), I tried to ask for papers not only from academia but also from business fields to make this issue practical and useful to be leveraged for our next steps in preparing for incoming disasters. As a result, this issue obtains papers from various fields from academia to financial businesses and also with several different approaches which includes actual real case studies. Many of papers in this issue focus on intangible part of business continuity activities that is different from the traditional disaster management approaches which have mainly focused on tangibles or hardware reinforcement against natural disasters. Recent wide-area disasters taught us the importance of intangibles and we should start discussions more in details with aspects such as corporate value, emergency transportation & logistics, training & exercises, funding arrangement, and management systems. I hope that discussions and insights in this issue will help our discussions and actions to move forward. Finally, I really thank the authors’ insightful contributions and the referees’ intensive professional advices to make this JDR Special Issue valuable to our society in preparing for incoming disasters.

Special Issue on NIED Frontier Research on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 675-675
Author(s):  
Haruo Hayashi ◽  
Ryohei Misumi
Keyword(s):  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Risk Information ◽  
Shaking Table ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Special Issue

We are very pleased to publish the Special Issue on NIED Frontier Research on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2020. There are nine papers in this issue. The first two papers concern hazard and risk information systems: Sano et al. constructed a real-time risk information map for flood and landslide disasters, and Hirashima et al. created an alert system for snow removal from rooftops. These systems are already in use on the NIED website. The next three papers are case studies of recent storm disasters in Japan and the United States: Cui et al. analyzed the time variation in the distribution of damage reports in the headquarters for heavy-rainfall disaster control in Fukuoka, Shakti et al. studied flood disasters caused by Typhoon Hagibis (2019), and Iizuka and Sakai conducted a meteorological analysis of Hurricane Harvey (2017). Regarding volcanic disasters, Tanada and Nakamura reported the results of an electromagnetic survey of Mt. Nasudake. This special issue also includes three papers on large-scale model experimentation: Danjo and Ishizawa studied the rainfall infiltration process using NIED’s Large-Scale Rainfall Simulator, Kawamata and Nakazawa conducted experiments concerning liquefaction, and Nakazawa et al. reported the results of experiments on seismic retrofits for road embankments. The experiments used E-Defense, the world’s largest three-dimensional shaking table. We hope this issue will provide useful information for all readers studying natural disasters.

Public Private Partnership Operational Model – A Conceptual Study on Implementing Scientific-Evidence-Based Integrated Risk Management at Regional Level

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanling Lee ◽  
Kenji Watanabe ◽  
Wei-Sen Li ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Public Private Partnership ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Private Partnership

The 2004 South-East Asia earthquake and tsunami as well as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquakes and tsunamis caused the greatest economic losses and challenged the continuity of business operations across the continents. Thereafter, regions most at risk when the 2016 Kaohsiung earthquake shook an electronics hub in Southern Taiwan, where lies at the heart of Apple’s supply chain. The large-scale disasters demonstrate the fragility of supply chains and the importance of enhancing disaster resilience through innovative technology and keen collaboration on information sharing/dissemination, resources allocations and risks communication/awareness across borders. With review of the global and regional lessons learn from the large-scale disasters, the increasing threats from devastating earthquakes and extreme weather call for the actions to enhance economic security. Base on the practical experience of DRR project implementations in decades, APEC identifies several key factors to promote disaster resilience in business sectors while the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) declared to promote the disaster risk governance and encourages innovation, science and technology DRR approaches on raising the risk awareness and level of preparedness. At regional level of disaster risk management, empowering the cross-cutting collaborations on science and technology as well as enabling the inter-disciplinary information intelligence platform for communications are keys to resilient society and human well-being. This paper aims to identify conceptual model for enhancing regional resilience and connectivity through public-private partnership. The country-level case studies and comprehensive regional reviews for promoting inclusive and disaster resilient development will be cover.

Special Issue on Global Forum on Science and Technology for Disaster Resilience 2017

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1167-1167
Author(s):  
Toshio Koike ◽  
Kenji Satake ◽  
Akiyuki Kawasaki
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Risk Governance ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global Forum ◽  
Sendai Framework ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
Synthesis Report

The Global Forum on Science and Technology for Disaster Resilience was held in Tokyo from 23 to 25 November 2017 with 228 participants from 42 countries. To implement the priorities for action in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) 2015–2030, the Forum aimed to encourage all stakeholders to develop guidelines for supporting national platforms for DRR by making the best use of science and technology and producing a synthesis report on disaster science and technology. During the Forum, seven working groups held presentations and panel discussions that corresponded to the four priorities for action in the Sendai Framework (1. Understanding disaster risk; 2. Strengthening disaster risk governance; 3. Investing in DDR; and 4. “Build Back Better”), as well as on Interdisciplinary collaboration, National platforms, and Synthesis report. At the end of the Forum, seven policy briefs, as well as “Tokyo Statement 2017,” were adopted. In this special issue of the Journal of Disaster Research, co-chairs of the working groups summarize their discussions and recommendations for each working group. Additional papers on the role of private sectors and Nation’s Synthesis are also included in the issue. We thank all the authors and reviewers of the papers, as well as all the participants of the Forum for their valuable contributions.

scholarly journals Special Issue on the Western Japan Heavy Rain

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 873-873
Author(s):  
Haruo Hayashi
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Heavy Rain ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Floor Level ◽  
Problems And Solutions ◽  
Western Japan ◽  
Disaster Event

In 2018, Japan not only had an abnormally hot summer, but also experienced successive disasters, including the Northern Osaka Earthquake, the Western Japan Heavy Rain, Typhoon No. 21, the Hokkaido Mid Iburi Earthquake, and Typhoon No. 24. In particular, the record-breaking heavy rains continued in a large area of Western Japan from June 28 to July 4, due to the storm front and Typhoon No. 7. The amount of rainfall totaled over 1,800 mm in the Shikoku Region and 1,200 mm in the Tokai Region. The quantity of rain that fell within 48 and 72 hours in both the Chugoku and Kinki Regions, as well as many other areas, was the highest rainfall ever recorded. A special warning regarding heavy rain was issued in 10 prefectures and every kind of disaster that Japan had experienced recently occurred in various locations. As of August 21, a report from Disaster Management Section, Cabinet Office indicated 221 deaths, 9 missing persons, 68 severely injured persons, 319 slightly injured persons, 3 persons with an unknown level of injury, 6,206 destroyed homes, 9,764 severely-damaged homes, 3,765 partially-destroyed homes, 9,006 homes with flooding above the first-floor level, and 20,086 houses with flooding below the first-floor level. During this large-scale disaster, which was named the Western Japan Heavy Rain, the Disaster Relief Act was applied to 110 municipalities and JDR decided to issue a special edition to address issues pertinent to this specific disaster event. Paper submissions were requested that not only comprised demonstrative researches on hazard and damage characteristics, methods of evacuation, and features of disaster response, but also included introductions of best practices, which were conducted in various fields and prompted diverse collaboration to develop and establish measures to mediate the effect of the future Nankai Trough Earthquake, as well as problems and solutions to successfully realize diverse collaboration. In response to the call for papers for the special issue, nine researches were submitted and six were accepted following a strict review process. To address the category of hazard characteristics analyses, two papers analyzing the characteristics of the flooding resulting from the Western Japan Heavy Rain and one paper comprising an analysis of landslide disasters were accepted. In the category of disaster response, one paper focusing on the use of SNS and two papers regarding the elderly were accepted. It would be our sincere pleasure if this special issue could contribute to future reductions in damage resulting from natural disasters.

Presenting the Fifth JDR Award

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-4
Author(s):  
Naoshi Hirata
Keyword(s):  
Earth Science ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
National Research Institute ◽  
Great Pleasure ◽  
The Past ◽  
Meteorological Disasters

It is our great pleasure to present the fifth JDR Award to Dr. Yuichiro Usuda. Dr. Usuda has made outstanding contributions to the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) as the guest editor and the author of the JDR’s “Special Issue on NIED Frontier Researches on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2017” in Vol.12 No.5, which has been the most downloaded special issue for the past three years. Dr. Usuda is a leading scientist in frontier research for natural disaster risk management and resilience in National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED). He is working with researchers of many different disciplines as well as stake-holders in practical devastating disaster management situations. Thus, in his studies, he has been integrating many different disciplines to generate a new intellectual paradigm for managing multi-hazard disasters, such as earthquake disasters combined with meteorological disasters caused by rain, drought, snow, extreme heat or cold, ice, or wind. This is quite important in Japan and other disaster-prone countries, considering today’s global climate change. The special issue is the fruit of his research efforts. On behalf of the JDR editorial board, I wish to thank Dr. Yuichiro Usuda for his efforts and to congratulate him as the winner of the fifth JDR Award.

Special Issue on “What can We do for Developing Search and Rescue Robot?”

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-435
Author(s):  
Koichi Osuka
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Response System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Response Systems ◽  
Rescue Robots

As a disaster-prone country, Japan has endured many earthquake disasters. The latest cases include the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake disaster, the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake, and the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. Since the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in particular, many robot researchers have started undertaking the research and development of rescue robots. Their practical applications have a long way to go, so to continue ongoing robot research and development, we should also be aware that comparatively few researchers and engineers are actually engaged in such research and development. Great earthquakes (or tsunami) are both rare and unpredictable, which makes it very difficult to establish research policies for rescue robots intended for specialized use in disaster response. We should also realize that Japan is almost constantly hit by one or another every year – e.g., the typhoons that hit Japan directly every year and themselves triggering other disasters caused by landslides or avalanches due to heavy rainfall. The Japanese populace is so accustomed to such happenings but, nevertheless, few actions have been taken unlike those against large-scale earthquakes. It is often said that an effective disaster response system can only be developed after we have experienced many actual disasters. It then occurs to us that we must first construct disaster response systems – rescue robots, etc. – directly targeting daily natural disasters. Any large-scale disaster response system can be built on such constant efforts. On the other hand, any disaster response system against daily natural disasters could only be developed by locally domiciled researchers and engineers. This makes us feel that it is possible to increase the number of personnel who become involved in disaster response research and development. Based on the above context, this special issue provides a wide range of articles on region-specific disasters and disaster response actions, focusing on their localities and specialties. We sincerely hope that this special issue will help in promoting research and development on rescue robots and putting them to practical use.

Special Issue on Enhancement of Societal Resiliency Against Natural Disasters

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-211
Author(s):  
Muneo Hori
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Heavy Rain ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
Social Resilience ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Advanced Technologies ◽  
Estimation System

Enhancing social resilience in the event of natural disasters is a critical issue for Japan. It will requires a need huge efforts to further increase the physical preparedness; on the other hand, compared to increasing physical preparedness, enhancing social resilience is a cost-effective means of mitigating the effects of natural disasters. The Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion program (SIP), the biggest national research program in Japan, selected a theme related to enhancing social resilience in the face of natural disasters in 2014. The authors of this special issue worked as a part of the SIP for five years and developed state-of-the-art technologies for the enhancement, namely, next-generation tsunami and heavy rain observation, integrated liquefaction counter-measures, methods for sharing disaster information, a real-time disaster estimation system, an emergency communication system, and the development of applications for regional use. Most of the technologies have been implemented in efforts at natural disaster mitigation following earthquakes and heavy rains in 2017 and 2018. The development and implementation of advanced technologies are the essence of the SIP because it aims to foster innovation. While the SIP is a Japanese government program, it promotes international utilization of the technologies it develops. There are many instances which might be studied better by developing and utilizing advanced technologies in various countries following different types of natural disasters. I hope that this special issue will be a gateway for readers who are interested in using such advanced technologies to mitigate natural disasters and enhance social resilience during such events.

Exploring transdisciplinary approaches to facilitate disaster risk reduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 817-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shohei Matsuura ◽  
Khamarrul Azahari Razak
Keyword(s):  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Actual Field

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to look into how collaborations among science and technology groups and other stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region can facilitate implementation of national and local disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies through education, training and field practice. Case studies on transdisciplinary approach (TDA) that integrates cross-cutting DRR issues and various stakeholders through science and technology are introduced from several countries in the region as attempts to holistically support societies build and strengthen their disaster resilience. Design/methodology/approach First, through literature review, the transition from single discipline to TDA is illustrated in which various stakeholders of different disciplines work together to achieve a common societal goal. This is followed by introduction of several case studies of actual TDA implementation for DRR in which information had been gathered through surveys and interviews with international science and technology stakeholders. Finally, through analysis and discussion, the study identifies the key roles of science and technology stakeholders for facilitating TDA for DRR. Findings The study concludes with key findings on the specific roles of science and technology including provision of education and training to build capacities of DRR practitioners to effectively plan and implement DRR measures, support to evidence-based decision making through locally specific scientific assessments and analysis and validation scientific information on the actual field for DRR practitioners and agencies. In materializing these roles into action, institutionalization of supporting policies and budget provision that promotes TDA are suggested. Originality/value Even though TDA is not a new concept and many stakeholders understand its importance, TDA has not been widely exercised mainly due to conventional practices of experts and organizations working only within their groups and disciplines. With this understanding, this study has newly identified eight key elements that can be used as a guide and checklist for DRR stakeholders to effectively implement TDA for strengthening disaster resilience of their societies.

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