Japan by Jeff Kingston

Author:Jeff Kingston
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781509525485
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2019-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

Natural Disaster: The 2011 Tsunami

In some respects, the tsunami that slammed Japan on March 11, 2011 marked the end of the Lost Decades, precipitating the LDP’s comeback. The subsequent election of Prime Minister Abe, partially propelled by the flawed disaster response and recovery efforts, ended the policy discontinuities and administrative instability of revolving prime ministers (six between 2006 and 2012) as the nation began climbing out of the deep hole it had descended into.

The record M9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a huge tsunami that devastated coastal communities along a 500 km stretch of Japan’s remote northeastern coastline, a region known as Tohoku.22 In some places, the tsunami crested at 38 meters above sea level, reaching above and beyond the tsunami stones – placed as a warning to future generations not to build below the line of inundation – that dot a coastal region that has suffered numerous ruinous waves over the centuries, this being the third since the late nineteenth century. But every generation makes its own mistakes even if it is only repeating the past mistakes of others.

The seismic tremors caused relatively little direct damage to buildings or infrastructure, testimony to strict building codes, but were felt as far away as Kyoto. Tokyo towers swayed for several minutes and train services were suspended, stranding commuters, but there was a sigh of relief that nothing big toppled. Up in Tohoku, the numerous tunnels for roads through the hilly coastline remained intact. It is also remarkable, given the apocalyptic scenes, that less than 20,000 people died in the tsunami, a testimony to disaster drills and sustained public campaigns to raise awareness about the need to prepare for the worst and to where people should evacuate. Just a week before the tsunami struck, there had been a school evacuation drill to commemorate the 1933 tsunami. Knowing what to do made a difference, even if some were lulled into a false sense of security in towns nestled behind 8-meter tsunami walls, considered sufficient for any eventuality. It also helped that the tsunami struck during the day when schools were in session and people were awake, facilitating evacuations.

The sheer devastation is impossible to describe. Entire towns were transformed into masses of rubble, with houses and buildings torn from their foundations. Cars were strewn randomly and boats marooned far inland, while a sea of bare foundations attested to where communities once thrived. The detritus of families was strewn about with photo albums buried in mud alongside stuffed animals while flotsam and jetsam emblazoned the tops of utility poles and fences along 15-meter embankments. Here and there skeletons of buildings stood out from the flattened landscape, some with cars teetering on top, while missing walls opened private interiors to the gaze of outsiders. Peering down from hillside cemeteries where ancestors remained safe, there were vistas of pulverized towns, reduced to mounds of debris, crumpled seawalls and broken rail lines dangling above where embankments had been swept away. Along this saw-tooth coastline there were also communities untouched by

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