Pre-WBF2023 fieldwork and site visit with UCL, Cambridge, UW (2023/3/7 - 9)Theme：International research collaboration activities, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
Place： Iwate Prefecture: Miyako City, Fudai Town, Tanohata Town, Otsuchi Town, Rikuzentakata City

From 7th – 9th March, international researchers visited areas in Iwate Prefecture that wereaffected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami with IRIDeS faculty. Thefieldwork was organized by Researcher (Specially Appointed) Miwako Kitamura (InternationalResearch Collaboration Office), and Associate Prof. Anawat Suppasri (Tsunami EngineeringLab) with the support of the Sanriku Railway company, and Elizabeth Maly (InternationalResearch Collaboration Office) also joined this activity. Held in the days before the 2023 World
Bosai Forum (WBF), the 20 international participants who joined the fieldwork wereresearchers working on disaster science gathered in Tohoku to participate in the WBF.
Participants included faculty, students, and disaster museum personnel conducting disasterrelated research, from the UK, USA, Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia and other countries. The
fieldwork included site visits to the Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum in Rikuzentakata, theTsunami Memorial Hall and Unosumai Tomosu in the Unosumai area of Kamaishi City, andMiyako Kankou Hotel in the Taro area of Miyagi Town. Participants toured affected andreconstructed areas in the Taro area of Miyako, and the also heard the experiences of disasterstorytellers while walking the evacuation route used in the Great East Japan Earthquake inOtsuchi town.
Participants observed traditional cultural performances from this region, including a tiger dancein Kamaishi, deer dance in Otsuchi, and Kuromori Kagura in Miyako, to learn about the culture
and history of the affected areas. In addition to seeing the damage caused by the tsunami, thefield work included learning from a nature guide at Jodogahama to investigate the topographyof the rias coast. Participants boarded the Sanriku Railway train and were given insight into
the disaster through on the disaster storytelling by a Sanriku Railway employee who had
experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake, who explained the conditions of the train at thetime of the disaster.
The fieldwork participants from all over the world learnt a lot from this experience, not only
about the damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake but also about the culture,history, topography and disaster tourism of the Sanriku coastal area. Students from UCL,Cambridge and UW presented their findings as a booth and an oral session at the World Bosai
Forum where Tohoku University`s Executive Vice President for. General Affairs, Financial
Affairs and. International Relations (Prof. Toshiya Ueki) and Vice President for. Education
Reform and Global Engagement (Prof. Masahiro Yamaguchi) also attended to made theiropening and closing remarks accordingly.
We hope that the activities of these students and others will further promote international
cooperation and exchange in both research and education at IRIDeS. These activities weresupported by the Core Research Cluster of Disaster Science, Tohoku University and theJSPS`s Inter-University Exchange Project.

(continues to the next page)Disaster learning on the Disaster
Storytelling tour onboard tha
Sanriku Railway train

At the related session at the WBF2023

More information:
Core Research Cluster of Disaster Science, Tohoku University
http://dsmca.irides.tohoku.ac.jp/en/about-en
JSPS`s Inter-University Exchange Project (Japanese)
https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/japanese/2022/09/news20220908-01-mext.html

Text and photos from：Miwako Kitamura (International Research Collaboration Office)Anawat Suppasri (Tsunami Engineering Lab)
Elizabeth Maly (International Research Collaboration Office)