ADRC Highlights
Asian Disaster Reduction Center Monthly News

Vol. 183
June2008

TOPICSNatural Disasters inAsia
Survey Report onSichuan Earthquake
Promoting Cooperation
with Member Countries
Cooperative Project withThailand: Workshop on
Strengthening theCapacity of Thailand’s
Tsunami Early Warning
SystemADRC Staff Profile
No.30
Mr. Masato Ohori,Senior Researcher© ADRC 2008

●Natural Disasters in Asia
Survey Report on Sichuan Earthquake
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), in cooperation with theDisaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution (DRI), investigatedways for the lessons and experiences of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquakewith regard to recovery and restoration of disaster-stricken areas to be utilized
in response to the Sichuan Province Earthquake that struck Wenchuan County
in China's Sichuan Province (GLIDE no. EQ-2008-000062-CHN) on 12 May
2008. To conduct this investigation, ADRC Senior Researchers Mr. Kenpei
Kojika and Mr. Shuhei Tanaka, and DRI Research Fellow Mr. Atsuo
Takahashi spent 25-30 May visiting the cities of Dujiangyan and Mianzhu inthe disaster-stricken area to assess the situation on the ground and to share
information with officials from the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government,
the China Earthquake Administration, and the National Disaster Reduction
Center (NDRC) of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
1. Situation Report
16km
In Chengdu City, the provincial
capital of Sichuan, little physical damage
Wenchuan
was sustained by buildings and otherHanwang
CountyTown
structures. Shops are open as usual, andjust two weeks after the earthquake,citizens are going about their everyday
Zhundaobusiness. About 60 km from Chengdu,
Town
Mianzhu
however, lies Dujiangyan City, a popularCity
tourist destination registered on theWorld's Heritage List. Many of this city'sDujiangyan
Citybuildings have been damaged, and theTue May
shops are closed. In Juyuan Town (outside27of Dujiangyan City), relatively few
buildings were destroyed, but residents,
Juyuanfearful of returning to their homes, haveTown
been sleeping outside in tents. Public tent
Mon May
villages and large-scale temporary housing
26
Chengduconstruction is being promoted at aCity
feverish pitch, and the speed of thegovernment's response is evident. In【Survey Area】
Hanwang Town (outside of MianzhuCity), which is believed to lie along thefault where this recent earthquake
occurred, sustained catastrophic damage, with many buildings having
collapsed. Even the Hanwang Town Administration Building was completely
destroyed. Recovery and reconstruction efforts will be difficult here. In
Zhundao Town (outside of Mianzhu City), a field hospital equipped with X-ray
equipment has been opened, and a medical system has been established to meetthe needs of patients. The most seriously wounded victims who cannot be1

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treated here are being sent by ambulance to hospitals in the city. Temporary schools have also been
established.
The attitudes of some victims reflect an understanding of the situation, "Under thesecircumstances, there is bound to be a shortage of supplies. The government is handling the situation well,so we will continue to persevere." Others, however, are complaining, "There are no relief supplies
coming in and we are at a loss for what to do." It is difficult to secure baths, toilets and water, and there
is a shortage of tents, blankets, medicines, and heavy construction equipment. There has been little effort
to address the emotional needs of victims who have lost family members. With daytime temperatures
exceeding 30°C, sanitation is an important issue, and government institutions are engaging in disease
prevention efforts.
Several thousand volunteers, including students and other members of the community, havesigned up to help in Dujiangyan City. Private and corporate volunteers with experience addressing issuesof poverty and the environment have been active in the region, but they have primarily been involved ingetting supplies to victims. There is a particularly serious need to enlist volunteers with specialized
knowledge of mental health care issues.
2. Government Response
According to Deputy Director Mr. Tang Hong of the Sichuan Province Foreign Affairs Office,
who is responsible for accepting relief supplies from overseas, more than 2,000 tons of supplies havebeen delivered from 40 countries, and these are being delivered to victims under rigorous controls. Sinceblankets and other relief supplies had already been provided from Hyogo Prefecture, the Sichuanprovincial government responded to our team's visit and gifts of support with expressions of gratitude toGovernor Ido and the people of Hyogo Prefecture for their past and ongoing assistance. A letter ofgratitude was presented to ADRC Senior Researcher Mr. Tanaka, who is also an official with the Hyogo
prefectural government. The Sichuan provincial officials also expressed gratitude for the emergency
response teams and medical teams that arrived ahead of those from other countries.
Vice Director Mr. Miao Chong-gang of the Earthquake Emergency Management Department
Response Command Center of the China Earthquake Administration explained that detailed damage
surveys are being conducted on 1,000 buildings in the disaster-stricken region and that officials are
getting started on efforts to review the seismic intensity maps that stipulate the standards for seismic
resistant design.
Deputy Director Mr. Fang Zhiyong of the NDRC says the authorities have been basing their postquake response on the assumption that there will be about 60,000 deaths, saying "Our top priorities at themoment are providing medical care and everyday living assistance to victims, preventing disease, andbuilding temporary housing. We are in the process of investigating more specific recovery andrestoration plans. We currently need about three million tents, but only 400,000 have thus far been
supplied from domestic sources. As soon as they can be produced, they will be shipped to the disasterstricken areas." He explained that three million temporary housing units are needed, and that this need
will be met domestically by assigning specific disaster-stricken areas to economically wealthier coastal
provinces that can provide support. He also expressed gratitude for our visit and our willingness tocooperate based on our interest in large earthquakes and our experiences and lessons learned from theGreat Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.
With regard to the formulation of a recovery and restoration plan, according to Professor Gu
Linsheng of Tsinghua University's Emergency Management Research Center, the central government has
divided the disaster stricken region into four areas, and government agencies will be working together
with academic institutions to formulate recovery plans for each area within the next three months.
Professor Gu has already summarized the issues that need to be addressed in the restoration plan, basedon information gleaned from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and has presented that information tothe government authorities. Grass-roots exchanges of volunteers with experience helping out with large
earthquakes are also expected to take place between Japan and China.
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3. Conclusions
Multifaceted response efforts are underway in the regions covered in this survey with regard topublic evacuation shelters, field hospitals, medical care, disease prevention, temporary elementaryschools, temporary housing construction, and the revision of seismic resistance standards. Experiencesand lessons of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake can be used to provide support for the recovery andrestoration of the disaster-stricken region in the following ways:- Advice regarding the formulation of earthquake restoration plans (within three months)- Management of temporary housing facilities and the maintenance of communities- Mental health care for victims- Industrial restoration- Repairs to cultural assets
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Chinese officials who madethemselves available to us during this challenging time, and all of those who provided cooperation andsupport for our efforts.
* Details of this report can be found at the ADRC website (http://www.adrc.or.jp/top_j.php).
* According to the Earthquake OCHA Situation Report No. 10, the death toll for this disaster is 68,858
people with an additional 366,596 injured and 18,618 missing. A total of 45.61 million people have been
affected.

●Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries
Cooperative Project with Thailand: Workshop on Strengthening of the Capacity ofThailand's Tsunami Early Warning System
On 6 March 2008, the Department of Disaster Prevention andMitigation (DDPM) of Thailand's Ministry of the Interior
conducted a workshop in Phuket on Strengthening the Capacity ofThailand's Tsunami Early Warning System. This project wasconducted in cooperation with the ADRC.
The objective of the workshop was to disseminate
information about the tsunami early warning system to local
residents and to review tsunami evacuation routes. The seminar
was attended by approximately 50 people including local
government officials of Phuket province, local community
leaders, high school students, and teachers.
The vice governor of Phuket province delivered the opening remarks at the workshop. TheADRC then gave a presentation on tsunami early warning systems and community-based tsunami
preparedness using examples from Japan's experience. Participants actively asked questions about such
topics as emergency kits and public reactions to false alarms. The DDPM then gave presentations on
disaster management and tsunami disasters in Thailand. They also discussed the 2004 Indian Ocean
Tsunami and the various countermeasures that have been taken in response to that event, including theinstallation of tsunami sirens and evacuation signs, and the implementation of evacuation drills.
Participants also learned about the tsunami warning system in Thailand from the National Disaster
Warning Center (NDWC).
After this series of lectures, participants were divided into two groups to tour the evacuation
shelters shown on the tsunami disaster prevention maps. In the process, they had a chance to talk withlocal officials and residents about evacuation distances and the security of evacuation routes. They also
checked signage along the evacuation routes and signs to raise tsunami awareness. After checking these3ADRC Highlights

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sites, each group gave presentations on the current status of the sites they visited and the areas needing
improvement.
This cooperative project was a success thanks to the efforts of the DDPM and Mr. Arun Pinta,
former ADRC Visiting Researcher. We hope the results will contribute to the implementation of tsunami
early warnings and to prompt evacuations in the tsunami-prone areas of Thailand.

●ADRC Staff Profile No.30
Mr. Masato Ohori, Senior Reseacher
My name is Masato Ohori and I joined the ADRC as a seniorresearcher on 1 April 2008.
I have spent the past 37 years working as a building
engineer with Taisei Corporation. Of those, eight were spentworking in Japan, at the Taisei branches in Niigata, Tokyo,Hiroshima, and Yokohama. During the remaining 29 years, I was
assigned to several international branches working on various
overseas projects. The major international projects I was involved
in include a desalination plant in Kuwait (3 years), a national
government complex in Malaysia (5 years), a power plant projectin Saudi Arabia (5 years), and factory and other building projects
in China, the Philippines, and other locations.
I encountered one of the greatest human-induced disasters, the Gulf War, twice, during my stayin the Middle East in 1990-91. Because of the war, our project team twice had to evacuate the region.
The first time, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, each member of the team had to evacuate to his respective
country. The second time, the entire project team was sent to a safer location rather than having
individuals leave the region separately. Immediately after the outbreak of the war, we had to sleep in theopen desert for two weeks. With the war continuing on and our sanitation conditions worsening, wedecided to move to a safer place near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A caravan of about 600 workers traveled
1,600 km across the hot deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. After spending about a month in Jeddah, theworkers headed back to the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia along the same route.
These experiences were unforgettable for me in both good and bad ways. It was thanks to goodplanning and preparation that our team did not experience any accidents during either evacuation. Also,
because of these experiences, I can no longer be considered a stranger to the issues of disaster, disaster
risk, and disaster risk reduction. I believe that disaster risk can certainly be decreased throughcomprehensive planning and organized, systematic preparations, and I am hopeful that I will be ableutilize my experiences in my work at the ADRC even as I learn from my research here.
This is my first assignment in the Kansai region (which includes the cities of Kobe and Osaka),and I am pleased that the timing of my assignment allowed me to spend the “Ohanami-Cherry Blossom”
seasons in Osaka and Kyoto this year.
I hope that my work at the ADRC will benefit the mission of the organization and will prove
useful to other members of the ADRC team. It would give me great pleasure if the knowledge I havegained over the course my 37-year career could make a positive contribution to the efforts of the ADRC.

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