June 20th, 2011

Summary of State of Damage at Tohoku University and Restoration
after the Great East Japan Earthquake

Immediately following the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11th, the university
established the Disaster Control Headquarters headed by the President, and put all its
efforts into confirming the safety of the students and staff, and ensuring the safety of thecampus.
All those connected with the university has come together to work towards the early
restoration of damaged buildings and facilities and the swift resumption of the university’sfunctions.
In addition, while we continue to contribute to the local community, we are striving tomaintain a flexible approach; we have cancelled the degree conferment ceremony, and havebeen flexible with regard to entrance ceremonies, the commencement of lectures and so forth.

1. Safety of Students / Staff
・Confirmation of the safety of students/staff was completed on March 30th
Japanese students: 17,073

International students: 1,499

Staff (including part-time employees) : 11,590
・

Confirmed fatalities: a fourth-year student of the Faculty of Agriculture, a first-year
student of the Faculty of Economics, and a new student due to enroll in April.

・ Injured: 14 students (13 Japanese students and an international student)
・ Zero fatalities among staff.

Relatives of five members of staff died and relatives of

two members of staff are missing.
・ Survey of damage to student residences (student residences are being consideredaccordingly)→Students whose residence was completely/partially destroyed: 526 (5.2%)
Students who are considering moving : 331 (3.2%)※ Deadline for submitting applications for entrance and tuition fee exemption extended
for approximately 2 months※ Financial support for students affected by the disaster→ ① entrance/tuition fee exemption ② new scholarship system under consideration③ long-term support extending beyond the academic year necessary
2. Educational Affairs
・ Degree conferment ceremony for the 2010 academic year cancelled (degree certificatesand President’s message mailed at the end of April)・ Undergraduate / Graduate entrance ceremonies, orientation for new students
rearranged from April 6th (Wed) to May 6th (Fri) (all conducted by individualdepartments)
・ Commencement of lectures
Common Education lectures (first and second year undergraduates): May 9th (Mon)Specialized undergraduate lectures / graduate lectures : April 25th (Mon)3.

Buildings
・ Condition of lifeline utilities
Electricity, water, gas fully restored to all buildings except those assessed dangerous
on April 26th.
・ Level of danger
Dangerous : 28 buildings (including those damaged by the tsunami),
Caution needed : 48 buildings
Safe : 512 buildings (including those that require partial repairs)
・ Restoration costs (rough estimate calculated by Tohoku University) : 44.8 billion yen※ At present, dangerous buildings have created a total area of unusable space amounts
to 40,000 square meters. Of this, 18,000 square meters can be created by adapting
individual existing buildings and utilizing spare space. However, prefabricatedtemporary structures are necessary to make up the remaining 22,000 square meters.
In order to accelerate the current reconstruction activities, we need special
arrangements with regard to application for the reconstruction of damaged buildings
and construction of prefabricated buildings.

4. Facilities
・ Rough estimate of total cost of damage to facilities: 35.2 billion yen (6,118 items)※ Where possible, general-purpose equipment to be made available for shared use
across departments.
※ In order to commence the early restoration of equipment, we need special
arrangements with regard to flexible budgetary provisions and implementation
systems.
5. Acceptance of Emergency Provisions and Earthquake Disaster Relief Donations
・ Emergency provisions: we have received support from the Ministry of Education,Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Japan Association of National
Universities. Emergency provisions sent from all national universities in Japan havebeen accepted through Niigata University and Yamagata University. Provisions havealso been received from the private sector.
・ Establishment of Tohoku University Earthquake Disaster Relief Donations (March18th)
6. Support from Foreign Universities / Institutions

・ With regard to offers of educational and research support from foreign universities, wewill request cooperation when absolutely necessary in order to ensure the smooth
continuation of research and education.
7. Contribution to the local community
1) Tohoku University Hospital・ The hospital is endeavoring to secure medicine and medical materials via university
networks and academic societies.

The hospital has taken a central role in accepting

patients from hospitals in the disaster area, transporting patients to hospitals outside
the prefecture, dispatching doctors and providing medical supplies.
2) Monitoring of Radiation Levels
・ Responding to requests from Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai City, and Fukushima
Prefecture, Tohoku University’s committee for nuclear science safety has beenmonitoring radiation levels in vegetables, milk, tap water, the atmosphere, the soil,
and the sea, and providing information on these radiation levels to local municipalities
and local residents.

We have also been cooperating with efforts to remove

contaminated soil from the playgrounds of nursery schools in Fukushima City.
3) Volunteer Activities
・ There are currently around 1,000 students registered with the university’s volunteer
association.

These volunteers have been actively providing help at nursing homes forthe elderly and administrative support at the Prefectural Office. In addition, inresponse to requests from Miyagi Prefecture, over 40 students were sent daily toYamoto Town to provide support at evacuation centers.

Students have also been sent

to Kesennuma to deliver relief supplies to evacuation centers.

In Sendai, student

volunteers are providing learning support for children in evacuation centers andtemporary housing.
4) Dissemination and archiving of information on the disaster・ Utilizing the academic potential of the arts and sciences, Tohoku University’s
specialists from a variety of fields are reporting on the disaster situation while also
promoting the sharing of information and development of a disaster database.
Additionally, from directly after the earthquake, Tohoku University has provided
evacuation centers, assisted with the identification of bodies, conducted surveys on salt water
damage, and led the development of new tsunami counter-measures.
Furthermore, we have established a support office for student volunteer activities to help
students contribute to the reconstruction of the region.
We will gather our collective wisdom, and, through collaboration with Miyagi prefecture,
Sendai City and the national government, we will contribute to city planning that is effective
against disasters; to nuclear accident response; to food, agriculture and village reconstruction
assistance projects; and to the reconstruction and regeneration of the local community.