3

Impact of Tsunamis on Human Life and Society
Masatoshi YOSHINO
Professor Emeritus, University of Tsukuba
28-9 Matsumori Nagayama, Shizukuishi-Cho, Iwategun, Iwateken, 020-0585 Japan*email: yoshino0101@wave.plala.or.jp

Abstract
Tsunami disasters seriously affect the environment on which human life and society rely, and is maintained under the influence of global change. This problem, however, has not discussed in depth thus far. This
paper deals firstly with terminology of tsunamis and related phenomena. It has been pointed out that, forexample, natural scientific or technological terminology regarding “tsunami height” does not always coincidewith terminology used in old documents, folk lore, literature, social sciences, people’s conversations etc.
Secondly, this paper presents an overview on the tsunami disasters that occurred in eastern Japan on March 11,
2011, showing the number of deaths and victim ratio in relation to tsunami height. Thirdly, taking examples
from local changes in commercial functions in the town of Yamada on the Sanriku coast, this paper presents
differences in shopping conditions in the temporary new towns. Fourthly, a description is given on fires
caused by sparks from batteries of cars and small boats drifting in the sea water. On the coast, oil flowed fromindustrial reserve tanks and industrial plants damaged by the earthquake, increasing the force of the fires. New
problems to be studied include sources of drifting fires by tsunamis over the coastal sea surface.
Key words: defining tsunamis, environmental change, Great East Japan Earthquake Disasters,
human life and tsunamis, tsunami fires

1. Introduction
Whether on an international or domestic scales,
tsunamis are considered an important environmental
factor. International programs and discussion groups,
such as IGBP (International Geoshere-Bioshere Programme), IHDP (International Human Dimensions
Programme), or IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel of
Climate Change), however, have yet to deal with thisissue. One reason might be that seismic and volcanic
activities together with tsunamis occur independently
from atmospheric phenomena such climate change(Yoshino, 1994).
Considering these conditions, the present paper intends first to deal with various definitions in natural sciences, technology, forecast/warning information systems,
classical documents, folklore handed down by local people, etc. Secondly, it gives summaries of disasters: numbers of deaths, destroyed houses and information/ media
from region to region and changes in them after theoccurrence on March 11, 2011. It can be said that this was
one of the most destructive tsunamis in world history,referring to a table compiled by Fuchs (2006). Particularly, this part of the present article describes the victims
by age, the problem they face as refugees in temporary
housings, and their health and psychological conditions.
Thirdly, the paper provides examples of disasters such as
Global Environmental Research
18/2014: 3-8
printed in Japanfires caused by tsunamis and changes in commercial
functions.
The present article has been completely rewritten,
referring to previous papers (Yoshino, 2013a, 2013b) andmaking use of new materials and bibliographies.
Tsunami deposits, for example, have been well documented in a geomorphological review of studies (Novoa
Jerez & Pia Villagran, 2013), but there are few studies on
the impact of tsunami disasters on human lives and societies on a worldwide scale. I hope this article willcontribute to recovery of the refugees’ normal lives in theareas impacted by the tsunamis in eastern Japan in 2011.

2. Terminology Related to Tsunamis
2.1 Tsunami heightFirst of all, I discuss the problem of defining “tsunami
height,” because this is the most fundamental term usedin natural sciences, technology, sociology, old documents,
literature and everyday life to describe tsunamis.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency(2012),“tsunami height” is defined as “the difference
between the level of the sea surface uplifted by a tsunami
and the normal level of the sea surface without thetsunami.” The level is measured at tidal observation
stations on the coast. The Japan Meteorological Agency
announces information, forecasts and minute-to-minute©2014 AIRIES4

M. YOSHINO

status updates, using the records measured at these points.
This definition is considered most appropriate from ascientific standpoint. If we use this definition strictly,
however, we cannot use the term “tsunami height” ininland areas or on the sea. It is hoped that we will be able
to understand descriptions in old documents or observations by local people living in coastal areas, including
fishermen working on the sea, who use the term “tsunami
height” simply as the level of the uplifted water surface
from the level of the normal land or sea surface. On theother hand, scientific terminology should be used; officially and interdisciplinary in planning by local offices orgovernmental departments, for example, or broadcasting
on a city-town-village scale by local offices and also on anational scale by the media, or in recording or discussing
counter-measures to tsunamis.
Also, in the case of international cooperation by
volunteer groups, researchers, policy makers, and officers, differing terminology needs to be recognized first.
2.2 Other terminology related to tsunamis
Figure 1 illustrates terminology related to tsunamis(Japan Meteorological Agency, 2012). “Height of trace”
is used mainly on the mountain or hill slopes and valleyside slopes. On the other hand, “height of run-up trace” isusually the highest point the tsunami reached in valley
bottoms or on coastal plains. Both are expressed by thelevel of the ground surface (height above sea level). They
are identical at the uppermost position.
“Depth of inundation” is the depth of the tsunami,
composed of sea water and rubble (materials) originatingfrom earthquake and tsunami. On the other hand, “heightof inundation” is the difference in level between the
ground surface and tsunami surface. The “height” from(D) to (J) in Fig.1 is the altitude above sea level. Old
documents, literature, folk lore, local people etc. use theterms (C) to (F), as “tsunami height” (B). This is also truein other countries. These conditions should be taken into
consideration when we exchange ideas, plans, support
etc., among international groups.
Another good example can be seen regarding old
tsunami traces, with memorial marker stones built
according to definition (E) or (F) in Fig. 1. They arefound at the upper-most point of (E) or (F). The total
number in Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures was
316 as of the year 2000. These memorial marker stones
helped refugees this time, too. It is interesting to note thatshrines locate in most cases at higher positions, tops orridges, of hills or small mountains near the coast ineastern North Japan (Fujimoto, 2014). Past descriptionsof tsunami damages helped to decide the positionsof shrines.

3. Victims of Tsunamis
3.1 Losses due to the tsunami on march 11, 2011
First of all, human losses, expressed by numbers ofdeaths and victim ratios, are dealt with in areas at thescale of cities, towns and villages. To facilitate discussionof the relationship between human losses and tsunami
height, available data are list in Table 1.
The following facts can be ascertained from Table 1:(1) The victim ratio was larger in Iwate and Miyagi
Prefectures, except for Ofunato City. In the cities andtowns of these prefectures, the maximum tsunami heightwas 15-17 m. (2) Absolute values of numbers of deaths
did not always depend upon the limiting value ofmaximum tsunami height, but they were related to theheight in excess of about 5m. The victim ratios were3%-8%. (3) In Fukushima Prefecture, the victim ratio andnumber of deaths were smaller than in Iwate and Miyagi
Prefectures. The victim ratio was about 5 %, even where
the maximum height reached about 20 m. (4) It is thoughtthat reasons for these differences include the coastal
geomorphology, distance from the epicenter andpopulation densities in various areas. Further studies onsuch threshold values are needed.
3.2 Human problems in the temporary housing
Problems have been occurring among the people in
the new towns and houses built for temporary shelter.
The tsunami resulted not only in a technological andphysical disaster, but also in health conditions andpsychological problems, and even fatalities in extreme
cases.
First, I address problems in construction of the new

Fig. 1 Terminology related to tsunamis (after Japan Meteorological Agency).

Impact of Tsunamis on Human Life and Society

houses, taking an example from Iwate Prefecture, where
the total fatalities and number of people missing reachedabout 5,800, with about 24,000 houses destroyed andabout 40,000 people who had to take refuge. One
problem was the speed of construction of temporalhouses for refugees after tsunami. Construction work
started on March 19, 2011, eight days after the tsunami,
and resulted in 13,984 houses being built in 319 new
temporary towns during the subsequent five months. Thisdelay resulted from land scarcity, because little land wasTable 1 Maximum height* of tsunami, number of deaths** andvictim ratio(%)*** by typical city, town or village
Maximum height Numberof tsunami (m) of deaths
Hokkaido―
1
Toyokoro Town
4.3
0
Hiroo Town
4.00
Erimo Town
4.1
0
Aomori Prefecture―
3
Hachinohe City
6.2
1
Iwate Prefecture―
5,086
Kuji City
7.8
4
Miyako City
9.3
465
Kamaishi City
9.3
986
Oofunato City
16.7
414
Rikuzentakada City
15.8
1,597
Oozuchi Town―
853
Yamada Town―
671
Iwaizumi Town―
10
Tanohata Village―
17
Miyagi Prefecture―
10,449Onagawa Town
14.8
607
Ishinomaki City
7.7
3,510
Higashimatsushima
5.8
1,115
City
Shiogama City
4.3
44
Kesennuma City―
1,189
Nanatsugahama
6.1
78
Town
Natori City―
952
Matsushima Town
2.9
―
7.2
907
Sendai City
Sendai Air Port
12.0―
Yamamoto Town―
697
Minamisanriku Town―
618
Fukushima―
3,057
Prefecture
Soma City
8.9
458
Minamisoma City
12.2
958
Namie Town
15.5
422
Futaba Town
16.5
116
Ookuma Town
12.2
106
Tomioka Town
21.1
194
Naraha Town
12.4
90
Iwaki City
4.9
416
Ibaraki Prefecture―
65
Kitaibaraki City
6.9
10
Hitachi City
3.9
13
Ooari Town
5.0
1
Chiba Prefecture―
22
Choshi City
3.9
0
Tokawa/Choshi City
5.3―
Iioka (Asahi City)
7.6
14
Region /area

Victim ratio
(%)
―
―
―
―
―
―
―
0.06
2.91
8.02
2.24
11.13
10.97
6.73
0.62
1.83
―
11.63
3.36
―
0.17
3.40
―
7.96
0.05
2.44
―
7.68
6.09
―
4.39
4.83
5.48
4.23
3.64
5.21
1.43
1.07
―
―
―
―
―
―
―
―

Data source:* <http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/honkawa/images/4363b.gif>** Fire Prevention Agency*** Ushiyama & Yokomaku (2012) :Data on human damage(victim Ratio) expressed by [(Number of death and missing
person)/ (Population in the flooded area)](%).
Disaster Prevention Center, Shizuoka University.
(The number of deaths in each prefecture is the total for all cities, towns andvillages in that prefecture)5

available for public use, and the ria-type coastal
geomorphology presented difficulties. Another reason
was that the purchase and sales prices of land for public
use were relatively lower than those for private use(Toyoshima & Iwahune, 2013).

4. Everyday Life and Health after the Tsunami
4.1 Space and time dimensions in the everyday livesof refugees
Consideration of the space and time dimensions andmethods of travels between houses and markets orworking places in the everyday important factor is an lifeof a refugee. The results of a group study in Miyako City
are shown in Table 2 (Iwahune, 2013).
It must be taken into consideration that a reasonabledistance on foot is about 500 m (2 km max.) or 25 minutes(max.). This means that, for everyday life, the maximum
distance would be 1 km (because to go and return is2 km). These distances are almost the same as those ofordinary life conditions. Problems may arise fromchanges in frequency and means of travel.
4.2 Psychological problems
For the purpose of helping victims recoverpsychologically from the damage caused by the tsunami,
local groups and governments have planned actions or
events since about one year after the occurrence of thetsunami.
It was pointed out in Miyako City as of January 2013that problems needing to be solved from the viewpoint of
human relationships were being observed among the
local residents, who had been living in the area since
before the tsunami on March 11, 2011, and the newrefugee. Similar conflicts have occurred in other cities
and towns between the refugees and officials in local
governmental offices, volunteer groups, etc.
One reason for such behavior is considered to be
psychological stress among the refugees. According to
the results of an interview questionnaire of the refugees,
they experienced the following elements of stress(Matsumoto et al., 2013): (1)Memory of the tsunami, (2)Loss of their own house or work place, (3) Difficulty
establishing human relationships in their place of refuge,(4) Anxiety over their future life, (5) Health conditions,and (6) Family relationships.
Table 2 Space and time dimensions of people living in thetemporary housing in Miyako City after tsunami on March
11, 2011
Type of movement
Walking
BicycleMotorcycle (Baiku)
Car
Bus
Taxi
[Data: Iwahune (2013)]

Distance
0 - 500 m (2km)
500 m - 5 km
1.5 - 6 km
1 - 8 km2 - 8 km1 - 4 kmTime
0 - 25 min.
10 - 60 min.
10 - 20 min.
5 - 20 min
7 - 20 min.
5 - 10 min.

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M. YOSHINO

As has been pointed out by Domroes (2006), sociallymarginalized victims suffer ostracism within the community and feel neglected, discouraged and disregarded
to the point of assuming that their human rights are being
ignored. This feeling spread in Sri Lanka after thetsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, too.
In Miyako City, events were held once a month fromMarch 2012 to encourage refugees in their everyday lives(Nakamura, 2013). Themes of these events included:
cherry blossom viewing, bus excursions to social events,
a Girls’ Festival (Dolls’ Festival on March 3), magicshows, nagashi-somen festivals (eating noodles driftingby in gently sloped bamboo-gutters) and others. It isinteresting to note that observing and feeling the changes
in seasons, for example, in cherry trees blossoming andlandscape color changes are important to recovery of anormal sense of everyday life. It is thought that theJapanese sensibility (Yoshino, 2009) of reacting to seasonal changes in nature beyond human’ force may help
reduce of psychological stress arising mainly fromhuman relationships as mentioned above.
Impacts of tsunami disasters on everyday lives ofrefugees and societies should be analyzed independently
for the period immediately after the tsunami occurrence(from first day to one week or one month), medium term
(two-three months) and long term (two-three years). Thisis because the problems involving human behavior,
everyday life, societies and economic conditions of thedisaster-stricken regions change in such terms qualitatively. For example, the psychological effects on humanlife change over time. Details are described elsewhere(Yoshino, 2014).

places of refuge. By June, 2011, temporary shops ormobile shops using small trucks provided food support
for the refugees. These conditions are illustrated in Fig. 2.
Supermarkets are being developed by local capital,
but, in contrast, almost all temporary shops have disappeared. Different shopping conditions in New Towns I
and F are shown in Table 3.
Figure 2 and Table 3 show clearly that Temporary
New Town I has supermarkets and private shops in contrast to no shops in Temporary New Town F. In otherwords, the distances the inhabitants need to travel toreach food shops and supermarkets are quite different.
In August, 2011, five months after the tsunami, newsupermarkets were opened by local capital. In April,2012, temporary shopping streets were opened commercially. The number of convenience stores increased
gradually. A statistical study has shown that the aged
people have been going more frequently to convenience
stores than supermarkets recently.
Since the second half of fiscal year 2012, chain stores
have been opening in the suburbs of Yamada, because
revival of the central shopping streets has been delayedand, in contrast, centralization of commercial functions
has become tangible with suburbanization progressing(Iwama et al., 2014).

5. Local Changes in Commercial Function
Changes in commercial function after the tsunami inthe town of Yamada have been studied intensively(Iwama et al., 2014). Located between Miyako City andKamaishi City, both representative port cities on the
Sanriku Coast, Yamada occupies a narrow coastal areaand suffered serious damage from the tsunami. The total
numbers of deaths and missing persons amounted to 734
and damaged houses 3,353. In the central commercial
area, 80 ％ of the houses and buildings disappeared,
swept away by the tsunami and destroyed by fires on
March 11, 2011.
In Yamada, 49 new communities (1,990 houses intotal) have been constructed and 29.4% of the total
population is living in them now. The distribution patternof the population was in the so-called “doughnut-form”
before the tsunami. That is, the population and commercial activities in the town center had already been decreasing prior to the tsunami.
People bought their necessities mostly at supermarkets managed by local capital in Yamada area or bycapital from Morioka, the prefectural center, in Osawa.
The commercial functions of Yamada were destroyedcompletely by the tsunami. This resulted in destruction oflogistic functions and serious food shortages at many

Fig. 2 Accessibility from temporary settlements, New Towns
I and F, to grocery stores in the town of Yamada(Iwama et al., 2014).

Impact of Tsunamis on Human Life and Society

7

Table 3 Differences of shopping conditions in the tempory new towns I and F (Iwama et al., 2014)
Temporary New Town I
Temporary New Town F
Estimated population
105.3
150.5
Distance to food shops
286.1 m3,782.6 m
Distance to supermarkets
1,200.3 m
8, 257.7 m
Single, aged people
many
many
Original residense
Yamada Town
mainly Tanoura
Occupation
fishermen or 2nd/3rd industry
fishery industry
Shopping:
by carlocal supermarkets
local supermarkets and “Michi-no-eki”
without car
walking to local supermarkets
buy at small truck-shops (fishes and sea products)
Problems
heavy to carry from shop to homedifficulties of shopping, increasing number of people
built private house, delay of recovering fisheries,
outflow of younger generation[Note: Translated from Japanese by Yoshino]

6. Fires6.1 Fire and human life
The Japanese people have been aware of the severe
damage caused by fires after heavy earthquakes andtsunamis in coastal areas. The memory of downtown
Tokyo burning down completely due to fires whichlasted over 40 hours after the Great Earthquake (Kanto
Daishinsai) which occurred on September 1, 1923, is stillclearly maintained in people’s memory. The fire resulted
in a great number of fatalities, with more than 65,000
people dead or missing. Studies on the behavior of fires
are important not only from a technological standpoint
for preventing damage, but also from the standpoint of
the environment for human life.
In 1933, in the case of the Showa-Sanriku tsunami,
199 fires occurred in the same coastal region discussed inthis paper. To these, experiences can be added the case of
2011.
6.2 Fires caused by the tsunami in 2011
After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, about 380
fires occurred in the damaged area and on the sea surface
along the coast. Their characteristics are summarized asfollows:(1) Collapsed structures, buildings, and houses weredensely distributed,(2) Damaged oil tanks were distributed throughout,(3) Drifting cars, LP-gas tanks and fishing boats accumulated, providing fuel and sparks between theirbatteries and sea water as sources of fire, and(4) Pebbles and soils are also thought to have strengthened the drifting or invasive force of the tsunami.
According to one study, 160 fires occurred due to thetsunami of 2011 and the total area burned amounted to78.4 ha as shown in Table 4.
The scale of fires at an early stage immediately after
an earthquake is small, but they develop on a large scale
when a lot of flammable material accumulates in coastal
areas. It makes firefighting by local citizens difficult(Meguro, 2013) and the force of fires is intensified
The occurrence of fire depends upon the population,
too. The greatest number of fires, 137, was observed in
Sendai, at the center of Miyagi Prefecture, which has a

Table 4 Occurrence of fire after the tsunami and earthquake on
March 11, 2011.
RegionFire caused bytsunamiearthquake
Aomori Prefecture
5 cases
6 cases
Iwate Prefecture29
18
Miyagi Prefecture
99
45
Fukushima Prefecture
12
21
Ibaraki Prefecture
928
Chiba Prefecture
5
14Tokyo Metropolitan－
35
Kanagawa Prefecture－
10
Saitama Prefecture－
12
Gumma Prefecture－
7
Tochigi Prefecture
－
7
Total
159
203

population of 971,000. Locally, a particularly great
number of fires, 24, was seen in Ishinomaki City, with apopulation of 120,000.
Referring to the results of an investigation by theJapan Fire Prevention Society’s Committee on Earthquakes and Fires (2013) and a previous study by theauthor (Yoshino, 2013 b), fires in cities, towns and ports
just after a tsunami can be summarized as follows:(1) Fires occurred due to diffusion of flammable materials, which are transported along the coast by thetsunami and accumulate there, forming there a thicklayer. Because it is difficult to evaluate the total
amount of accumulated materials in a short time, it isalmost impossible to plan firefighting strategies.
(2) Strong fires mostly occur due to destruction of oil
tanks, located along the coast. In the case of
Kesennuma City, four major fires occurred andspread over the bay with flaming oil. They cameashore in urban areas.
(3) Fires occurred at oil industry complexes in regions
relatively distant from the epicenter. For example, afire occurred in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture,
located on the coast of Tokyo Bay. Many large andsmall natural gas storage tanks at the oil refineries
exploded and became sources of fires. They took tendays to be completely extinguished, lasting until
March 21, 2011.
(4) Many cars and fishing boats drifted with the tsunami,
causing fires. Namely, electric leakage from theirengines and lights and outflow of fuels from their

8

M. YOSHINO

tanks become sources of fires. In some cases, carsabandoned by people escaping on foot from traffic
jams cause fires.
(5) People need to move to secondary refuges from theprimary refuges to which they first evacuated whenfire is approaching. In such cases, new plans forevacuation should be made immediately andmeasures should be taken to prevent fire fromspreading in these areas. This is not an easy task for
local firefighting groups.

7. Concluding Remarks
Summarizing the above, the followings can be said
regarding on the impacts of tsunamis on human lives andsocieties:
A more intensive and interdisciplinary discussion of
the terminology of tsunamis should be made consideringinternational viewpoints. It is important to develop plans
and take action for disaster prevention by technologicalmeans, considering evacuation, education, and everyday
life of the local people. Also, in the case of international
cooperation by volunteer groups, researchers, politiciansand officers, differences in terminology need to be recognized first.
Other fields that should be studied more intensively
include planning for education and activities at schools
and homes. More analysis is needed of psychologicalconditions and hygienic problems in places of refugee atworking places, including those of farming and fishing,and shopping facilities for everyday life.
Constructions of new dykes and other structures forrefugee evacuation needs to be discussed further from thestandpoint of people’s needs, protecting cultural property,
maintaining festivals, ethnological events, etc.
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Fuchs, H.-J. (2006) Tsunami. A global review of past and present
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Books, New Delhi, 34-60.
Fujimoto, Y. (2014) Coexistence with natural disasters. In: K.
Furusawa ed., Learning Coexistence, 2, (The Center for Promotion of Excellence in Research and Education, Kokugakuin
University), Kobundou, Tokyo, 103-120. (in Japanese)
Iwahune, M. (2013) Living environment and people’s health in thetemporary housings in Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture. E-Journal
GEO, 8(1): 188-189. (in Japanese)
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Japan Fire Prevention Society, Committee on Earthquake and Fire
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Masatoshi YOSHINO
Born in Tokyo on 1 January 1928, Masatoshi
YOSHINO graduated from Tokyo Bunrika University, BA in 1951 and MA in 1953, majoring in
geoscience, particularly climatology. He obtained
his Doctor of Science in 1961. He was a research
fellow of Alexander-von- Humboldt Foundation,
1961-1963, at the University Bonn, Germany. He
was an associate professor at Hosei University, Tokyo, 1968-1970, full
professor at the same University, 1970-1974, full professor at the Instituteof Geoscience, University of Tsukuba, Japan, 1974-1991 and at the
Department of Geography, Aichi University, Japan, 1991-1997. Currently,
he is professor emeritus at the University Tsukuba and senior programme
advisor, Sustainable Environmental Development, United Nations
University. In the past he has served as president of the Association ofJapanese Geographers and of the Japanese Arid Land Studies, vicepresident of International Geographical Union (IGU) and Former
chairman of the National Committee of International GeosphereBiosphere Programme (IGBP) in Japan. He has published many books,
including “Climate in a small area,” (University of Tokyo Press, 1975), in
English, 549 pages, and about 300 articles. He served as a chairman of theeditorial committee of ‘Global Environmental Research’ for Volumes 1
to 6.

(Received 25 February 2014, Accepted 2 July 2014)