Building the Resilience of Nations
and Communities to Disasters

HFA IRIDeS Review
Preliminary Report

RIDe

Hyogo Framework for Action
2005-2015:

Focusing on
2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

October 2013

http://irides.tohoku.ac.jp/hfa

International Research Institute of Disaster Science
Tohoku UniversityJapan

Introduction	
Japan has one of the highest levels of urban risk of natural disaster in the world because all the three values determining the risk—hazard,vulnerability, and exposed value—are very high. Thus, Japanese society has struggled against natural disasters throughout history.	
In this context, the UN World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction was held in Yokohama in May 1994 as a part of a mid-term review of theInternational Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). However, the most tragically disastrous event in Japanese history since World War II,
the 1995 Great Kobe Earthquake, occurred the next year. 	
The earthquake led the 2005 World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) to select Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, as its location for
demonstrating the city’s remarkable recovery from the earthquake. The Hyogo Declaration was adopted at the conference, and the Hyogo
Framework for Action 2005–2015 (HFA) was built as a 10-year plan to safeguard the world from natural hazards. The HFA consists of the following
five priorities for action, which would serve as guidelines to reduce future disaster damage for every country or region.	
During that decade, the Great East Japan Earthquake with Mw 9.0 occurred on March 11, 2011. We must learn from such devastating experiences forthe sake of future societies. This report focuses on topics related to the earthquake and tsunami in terms of HFA guidelines from the academic
viewpoints of professors at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, to disseminate the event’s lessons
learned. 	
Each topic deals with a specific case, contains context, the situation before and after the event, good practices, and problems, followed by future
recommendations summarized at the end of each priority section.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. World's 21st Century Natural Disasters
3. History of Natural Disasters in Japan (1888-2010)
4. Damage due to 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
5. 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake Review
HFA Priority for Action 1Ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and a local priority with astrong institutional basis for implementation.
• Institutional Structure in Japan• Dedicated and Adequate Resources for Disaster Management in Japan• Community Participation in Japan• Japan’s Multi-sectral Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
HFA Priority for Action 2
Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and enhance early warning.
• Improvement in Risk Assessment and Early Warning Systems with Realtime Monitoring:Lessons from the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami
HFA Priority for Action 3
Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety andresilience at all levels.
• Information Sharing, Cooperation, and Expert Training by AcademicResearch Institutes for Natural Disasters• Education to Build a Culture of Safety and Resilience at All Levels
around Academic Research Institutes
HFA Priority for Action 4
Reduce the underlying risk factors.
• Post-tsunami Recovery Strategies in Sanriku Coastal Areas after the 1933Tsunami• Measures for People Requiring Assistance during a Disaster• Business Continuity Planning after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake• Promotion of the Earthquake-proof Retrofit of Buildings after the 1995
Great Kobe Earthquake• Post-tsunami Recovery for Risk Reduction after the 2011 Great EastJapan Earthquake and Tsunami• Comprehensive Post-tsunami Recovery after the 2011 Great East Japan
Earthquake and Tsunami
HFA Priority for Action 5Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.
• Measures and Agenda for Large-scale Disasters in Japan: from thePerspective of Personal Information and Disaster Prevention Education• Three Coastal Districts in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture: Differences
Resulting from the Local Residents Organization Disaster ResponseActivities• Preparedness for Low-frequency and High-impact Disasters from aMedical Perspective• Prospect of Future Information Exchange Methods in the Event of aDisaster by Using SNS	

Contact:
International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS)
URL: http://irides.tohoku.ac.jp
E-mail: contact@irides.tohoku.ac.jp