Resilience Science for a Resilience Society in Seismogenic and Tsunamigenic Countries

Abstract

The world falls victim to many natural disasters, including disasters from tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornados, hurricanes, floods, landslides, and droughts.Above all, attention has been drawn to destructive tsunamis and earthquakes, such as the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami, the 2010 Chile earthquake, and the 2011 East Japan earthquake and tsunami.My personal experience with disasters, tsunamis, and earthquakes has taught me that they can cause severe damage to buildings, the environment, and people in societies in coastal areas (Fig. 1).Since the East Japan earthquake and tsunami in 2011, restoration and revival from the extensive damage caused by the natural disasters has not progressed rapidly in the coastal areas of East Japan.There are many reasons for this, such as the lead times for restoration and recovery, reconstruction budgets, and the time spent generating consensus among the national government, local governments, and people living in the coastal areas on the restoration plans.Furthermore, mental and economic restoration for each individual affected by the disaster in coastal areas and others is very far from returning to the normal state – the one before the disaster.Therefore, advanced measures for disaster mitigation, restoration, and revival in coastal areas are indispensable in advance of the next destructive earthquake and tsunami.In this paper, I will first present examples of tsunami and earthquake damage in Japan and the rest of the world, and countermeasures, resilience science, and resilience society.