Building a Victims Master Database
Using the GeoWrap Method without a Primary Key
Keiko TAMURA
Risk Management Office, Niigata University, Japan 1

Munenari INOGUCHI
Research Institute for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery, Niigata University, Japan 2

Reo KIMURA
School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Japan 3

Takashi FURUYA
Center for Risk Management and Safety Sciences, Yokohama National University, Japan 4

Haruo HAYASHI
Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan 5

Keywords
Component, GeoWrap, Integrated database, Victims Master Database

Abstract
The research team developed a GeoWrap Method that joins tables from different databases using spatial
location relationships instead of primary keys.

This technique made building master database possible inorder to support disaster victims, which was consisted of the data retrieved from the several sets ofadministrative database of the daily work and combined them into Victims Master Database. Tokyo
Metropolitan government accepted the importance of previous arrangement for going through thoseprocedures.

Introduction
In the event of a disaster in Japan, local governments provide many types of administrative services tovictims. Before the provision of these services, victims have to be identified and apply to the support
programs. Victims are identified on the basis of building inspections for the assessment of building damages.
The results of the building inspection are compiled in a database and certification of the degree of building
damages are in turn granted to the victims.
Previously, a basic database was constructed to manage the certifications for the degree of building
damages. However, this database did not contain geo-reference information. Therefore, this database has
limited utility for providing basic information for providing subsequent support services to victims.

tamura@gs.niigata-u.ac.jp, 8050 Ikarashi Nino-cho, Nishi-ku, Niigata, 950-2181, JAPANinoguchi@gs.niigata-u.ac.jp
3 rkimura@shse.u-hyogo.ac.jp
4 t-furuya@ynu.ac.jp
5 hayashi@drs.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
1279

Theory
In order to circumvent these issues, in this research we decided to develop a database to house the results ofbuilding inspections with geo-reference, and to grant certification of the degree of building damage based on
this geo-database. Furthermore, we proposed to develop the VMDB to store a variety of victim informationthat can be used in concert with the geo-database of building damage certification to facilitate effective andprompt support services to victims. Local responders can also use the VMDB to provide a plethora ofadministrative support to victims. The proposed effective work flow is shown in Figure 1.

Child Care

National HealthService

Property Tax

Disaster Relief
Fund

Demolition ofDamaged
Housings

Urgent Repair

Temporary
housings

Relief Money

Public Nursing
Insurance

Reduced Rates andExemption to Payment

Relief Programs

Insuring Effective and Prompt Service to Victims
based on the Victims’ Master DB
Granting Certification of the Degree of Building Damages to Victims
Constructing Database for the Results of Building Inspection
with Geo-reference
Carrying out the Building Inspection for Assessment of Building Damages

Figure 1. Work Flow of Administrative Support
MethodRequirements for issuing a Disaster Victim Certificate on the basis of a victim’s application are: To identify
an individual or a household on the Basic Resident Register (Juumin kihon daichou), to identify which houseis their primary residence where their life is centered, and to find out the results of a building damage
certification survey. To gather these required pieces of information, it is necessary to extract and collate theapplicable data from the (1) Basic Resident Register, (2) Property Taxation Database, and (3) Building
Damage Certification Survey. Items (1) and (2) are databases for a normal time, and item (3) is a databasebuilt after a disaster occurs. There are a plethora of issues listed below that affect the ability to connect items(1), (2), and (3) together.
1. Basic Resident Register and Property Taxation Database do not share a common primary key
The primary key of the Basic Resident Register is an individual number or a household number to designatea resident. On the other hand, the primary key of the Property Taxation Database is a house number used toset tax on a building. The Property Taxation Database may also contain an individual number in some80

municipalitiees if the taxx payer is a resident off that jurisdiiction. Howeever, this is not standarrd proceduree.
Therefore, thhese two databases canno
ot immediateely be combiined.
urvey is location
2. The only pprimary key of Building Damage Cerrtification Su
The Buildding Damagee Certificatioon Survey is organized according
ato locations useed to conducct a survey atadisaster affliicted areas. Therefore,Tinnformation oon the resideents and houses is not knnown, and ass such, Basicc
Resident Reegister and Property Taxation
TDattabase and Building Damage Certtification Suurvey cannoot
immediatelyy be combineed.
y to Combinee Databases with Different Primary K
Keys
2.3 Propositiion of Novell Technology
Our reseaarch and devvelopment teamt
developped a GeoWWrap Method that connnects data frrom differennt
databases ussing spatial location relaationships innstead of priimary keys. The GeoWrrap Method employs thee
Geographic Information System (GIIS) to positioon informatioon from eachh database inn a space, annd the spatiaal
ween pieces of informatiion is designnated affinity
y. This affiniity assigns w
weight between the pieces
distance betw
of informatioon and proviides rank ord
der among thhe pieces of information. Therefore, thhe information from eachh
database is cconverted intto spatial info
formation. Thhe spatial infformation waas then takenn into the GIS
S to calculatee
affinity baseed on spatiaal distances among the pieces of innformation. This was ann automatedd process forgenerating flflexibly connnected pieces of informatiion (See Figu
ure 2).

upportFigurre 2. Work Fllow of Admiinistrative Su
ng Damage C
Certification
4. The Purpoose of Issuing the Buildin

When a resident appplies for a Disaster V
Victim Certificate, a sim
mple searchh of the "reesulting dataa
that are fleexibly connnected togetther in a sppace" makes a resident identify th
their primarry residencee
based on thhe informatiion provided
d. By presennting a Building Damaage Certific ation Surveey result, wee
can let the rresident com
mplete the entry
eof the Victims Daatabase. A major
mfeaturre of this syystem is thaat
it effectivelly combiness automation as an optiimum solutiion and a reeal solution provided byy humans.

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Results
1. Installing a graphical interface
iusin
ng a map

Visualizaation of rannk ordered information in each dattabase on a map wouldd facilitate ana applicannt
identifying their primaary residencce based on his or her actual
aplace of residencce.
2. Installing a graphical interface
iusin
ng a map
List inform
mation woulld be color-ccoded for eacch database and displayeed on a map . Rank orderr informationn
would be mmade into a list for eachh database aand displayeed at the botttom of a mmap. An app
plicant wouldd
compare thee map and thee list to makee the followiing selections (Figure 3):(Basic Residdent Registerr) the display
yed address iinformation forf the appliccant match thhe actual info
ormation(Property Taxation Propperty) propeerty taxation informationn displayed as the primmary residencce match thee
actual informmation(Tremor Surrvey Researcch Results) in the appliccant’s opinioon, the displlayed resultss of the building damagee
certification survey accuurately reflect the damagee due to the earthquakee(Fire Damagge Survey Results)
Rin the applicannt’s opinion, the display
yed results of the build
ding damagee
certification survey refleect the damag
ge due to a fiire

FFigure3. System to Applyy and Issue DisasterDVicttim Certificaate(Interactive information search systeem between ana applicant and a municcipality clerk))82

3. Development Environment
This system was implemented in an environment to coordinate DBMS (Database Management System) andGIS. For the DBMS, an SQL server was used as a server-client database system. The SQL server can besubstituted with MS-Access (MDB) if only a client alone is used. A GIS server or GIS server runtime can beselected for the GIS function.
Apply the System of Building a Victims Master Database to the impacted area of Tohoku Earthquake
1. The devastating Disaster in Tohoku Area in JapanThe Tohoku Earthquake was a magnitude 9.0 (Mw) undersea mega thrust earthquake off the east coast ofJapan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, March 11th, 2011. This strong earthquake caused huge anddestructive tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 feet) in Miyako in the Iwate
Prefecture and travelled up to 10 km (6 miles) inland in the city of Sendai. Approximately 15,200 people losttheir lives and over 8,600 people were reported missing. The number of houses that were partially or totally
destroyed in the disaster was about 160,000. The tsunami caused a number of nuclear accidents, primarily theon going level 7 meltdowns at three reactors in the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant complex. The resulting
evacuation zones affected hundreds of thousands of residents that resided in the afflicted areas including 10
prefectures and 241 cities, wards, "" districts, and villages. Because of experience from past disasters, Japan
has a variety of well-organized support services to help the victims to rebuild their lives. However,standardization of the workflow in order to effectively offer these support services and build support tools are
not sufficient. The amount of work required is extremely large since the areas of disaster are widespread and alarge number of people need to receive support services. Therefore, it necessitates the establishment of aworkflow and support tools. Herein, we describe the generation of a Victims Master Database in order toeffectively provide support for victims.
2. The Research Field of Iwate Prefecture, one of the most impacted area
In Iwate Prefecture, 12 cities and villages along the coast suffered damages, and many victims are currently
trying to rebuild their live. As a shared infrastructure for all these cities and villages, we installed a server
within the Iwate prefectural office to implement the VMDB system.

This server was installed on a

LGWAN (also called Iwate Information Highway) that connects cities, and villages in Iwate Prefecture. This
enabled network access from information terminals at each municipality in a closed environment with a highlevel of security, and safe and stable system operation.
After the Tohoku Earthquake occurred, many administrative functions were damaged and some of themwere actually broke down.

During that time administrative officers started to provide service of life

reconstruction support for the victims in their temporary offices. As a result their work styles and workflows
lacked coherence and nobody can detect how much support service had already provided for victims or had
not provided yet.

7 cities and villages out of 12 now use the service of Web-Based Victims Master Database

System for supporting the process of life reconstruction for re-organizing their works. 7 cities and villages
aimed for realizing the situation being nobody who had not much support would be left (Figure 4).

83

Figgure 4. Serviices of Web--Based Victim
ms Master Database
DSysttemfor su
upporting thee process of life reconstru
uctionConclusionss
Although the systemm developed through thhis research is based ono experiencces from paast disasterss,
knowledge aabout wide-aarea, compleex disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthhquake is noot adequatelyy
incorporatedd. We are pllanning to makemrevisionns to the sysstem in ordeer to combatt the challennges that willl
surface as thhis system is continually used. Earthqquakes are expected to occuroin Tokaai, Tonankaii, and Nankaai
regions arouund Japan in the middle ofo the 21st ceentury. We wouldw
like too further imprrove this sysstem to aid inn
the early reccoveries fromm these poten
ntial future eaarthquakes.

Author Bioography
Keiko TAM
MURA, Ph.D.
Professor, RRisk Managem
ment Office, Niigata Uniiversity, Japaan
2004-2006 R
Researcher, ResearchR
Cennter for Disaaster Reduction Systems, Disaster Preevention ResearchInstitute, Kyyoto Universiity, Japan84

2006-2009 Associate Professor, Research Institute for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery, Niigata
University, Japan
2009- Professor, Risk Management Office, Niigata University, Japan
Munenari INOGUCHI, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Research Institute for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery, Niigata University, Japan
Reo KIMURA, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Japan
Takashi FURUYA, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Center for Risk Management and Safety Sciences, Yokohama National University, Japan
Haruo HAYASHI, Ph.D.
Professor, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan85