Chapter 31
Archival Science
Field of expertise: Disaster Archiving

Akihiro Shibayama
Translated by Catherine Sachi Kikuchi

Summary
Before the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were no established methods for collecting,organizing, copyrighting, and publishing earthquake disaster records. There was also noenvironment in which disaster records could be used freely. However, 2011, which is the year theGreat East Japan Earthquake hit, is said to be the beginning of disaster digital archiving. It initiateda big change in the handling of earthquake records, creating an environment in which many people
can use the records.
Keywords: disaster records, disaster digital archives, copyright, disclosure method, utilization,oral tradition

Introduction
Efforts to preserve records of natural hazard induced disasters, such as photographs,videos, testimonies, and writings, had been done before the Great East Japan Earthquake, butthere was no systematization or unified standards for collection methods, copyright processing,organization, and disclosure methods. In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, anumber of organizations collaborated to systematize and establish disaster digital archives.

1: Problems Revealed by the Great East Japan Earthquake
What happened?
The Great East Japan Earthquake caused seismic damage in the entire eastern part ofJapan, and a huge tsunami swept through the coastal areas, washing away all the buildings andother structures. The landscape that we knew was lost. In addition, the accident at the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused widespread radiation damage, forcing people to leave theplaces they knew and evacuate to different prefectures. More than 20,000 people, including direct
deaths, related deaths, and missing persons, were killed in this disaster. All of these factors
combined to prompt individuals and organizations to start collecting records with various purposes,including preserving lost memories and landscapes, accurately communicating the reality of the1damage, preserving the lessons that made the difference between life and death as well as therecords of recovery and reconstruction. Furthermore, on May 10, 2011, the Great East Japan
Earthquake Reconstruction Design Council announced a proposal for the seven principles of thereconstruction initiative. Principle 1 proposed that "records of the earthquake should be preserved
forever, analyzed scientifically by a wide range of academics, and the lessons we learn from theseshould be passed on to the next generation and disseminated both domestically andinternationally” (Cabinet Secretariat, n.d.). This recommendation has rapidly accelerated recordkeeping activities. Articles 7, 46, and 47-2 of the Basic Act on Disaster Management, which wasamended in 2012, stipulates that "in order to raise the public's awareness of disaster prevention, itis the responsibility of residents to pass on the lessons learned from disasters, and that thenational government, local governments, and disaster prevention organizations, including private
businesses, are obligated to make efforts to provide disaster prevention education” (Disaster
Management Cabinet Office, n.d.). This is related to the fact that each and every citizen is
responsible for handing down the lessons learned from disasters.
The reality
After the Great East Japan Earthquake, various organizations such as local governments,
research institutes, disaster mitigation organizations, companies, and libraries started collecting
disaster records simultaneously. One month after the earthquake, the private company Yahoo!
Japan Corporation launched the "Great East Japan Earthquake Photo Preservation Project" andbegan soliciting photos related to the disaster from the general public, which were published on theweb in June 2011. In the same month, Google launched "Memories for the Future” to publish
satellite photos taken before and after the disaster, and the site also began publishing photos
provided by the general public. In the disaster-stricken areas of Miyagi Prefecture, the Miyagi
Prefecture Lifelong Learning Facility, Sendai Mediatheque, launched the "Center for Remembering
3/11" three months after the disaster, and began collecting records of the disaster and provided
support through video editing. Six months after the disaster, Tohoku University started the Great
East Japan Earthquake Archive Project "Michinoku Shinrokuden" and started collecting photos
taken by researchers immediately after the disaster. One year later, the Japan Broadcasting
Corporation (NHK) released the "NHK Great East Japan Earthquake Archives," the first public
release of news footage and recorded testimonies. In March 2014, Tagajo City, Miyagi Prefecture,
became the first municipality to build a digital archive of the disaster. During this time, many otherorganizations, including the National Diet Library, Iwate Prefecture, Miyagi Prefecture, and Harvard
University, set up digital archives of the Great East Japan Earthquake as well. More than 50websites have been constructed, and in total, more than 4 million records of the earthquake havebeen made public.

2: Paradigms Destroyed by the Earthquake
Common knowledge of the past
Even before the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were problems with the disclosureand utilization of natural hazard records. The first is the issue of how to disclose disaster records,
and the second is the issue of copyright. Before the earthquake, disaster records were rarely madeavailable on the Internet, and only the bibliographic information of books and academic papers
were generally made available. The only way to access this bibliographic information was to visit alibrary yourself or order a copy of the records. The original records of past disasters, such as2

photographs, videos, testimonies, and writings, were often collected for individual purposes andpublished in the form of edited academic papers, journals, and testimonial collections. However,these original records were only processed with rights limited to individual purposes, making it
difficult for others to use the records for other reasons. In order to use these records, it isnecessary to present a new purpose to the copyright holder and process the rights again. In thisway, disaster records were not freely available for use. Only individuals or groups who collected
them, or the copyright holders themselves, could use these records.
Thus, before the earthquake, even if someone wanted to use the disaster records fordisaster education in schools, it required a lot of effort and they were not easy to use.

3: A New Approach
The Great East Japan Earthquake changed the way we think about handling disasterrecords. The major trigger for this change was the start of the "Great East Japan Earthquake
Archive'', an infrastructure construction project by the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications in September 2012. This project involved establishing guidelines based on theresults of the demonstration experiments for the construction of the Great East Japan Earthquake
Digital Archive. Five organizations from four prefectures (Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima)
participated in the experiment. Aomori Prefecture implemented the "Aomori Digital Archive
System'' (later integrated with the “Aomori Earthquake Archive”), Iwate Prefecture implemented the"Rikuzentakata Earthquake Archive NAVI" (later transferred to the “National Diet Library”), Miyagi
Prefecture implemented the "Michinoku Shinrokuden" of Tohoku University and the "Kahoku
Shimpo Earthquake Archive'' of Kahoku Shimpo, and Fukushima Prefecture implemented the "EastJapan Earthquake Archive Fukushima [sic]". The digital archives were opened to the public on theirrespective websites in March 2013. The methods of collection, organization, copyright processing,and publication obtained from this demonstration experiment were made into guidelines (Ministryof Internal Affairs and Communications, 2013), and had a great influence on the subsequent
earthquake digital archives. In particular, the earthquake records were open data so that anyone
could freely browse them on the Internet, and that they can be used for non-commercial purposes,
including for educational purposes.
In this project, the Great East Japan Earthquake Archive of the National Diet Library(nicknamed "Hinagiku") was opened to the public, and a portal site connecting the disaster digitalarchives of various organizations was opened to the public. In addition, the Edwin O. Reischauer
Institute for Japanese Studies at Harvard University is the first overseas institution to release the"2011 Great East Japan Earthquake Digital Archive" (renamed the “Japan Disasters DigitalArchive” in 2017), which, like Hinagiku, is also available as a portal site. The creation of a websitethat allows cross-searching on other sites, in addition to being published on a single website, has
opened the door for users to access a variety of disaster records.

4. Achievements and Future
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, there has been a major paradigm shift in thehandling of disaster records, so much so that it has been called the first year of disaster digitalarchives. However, continuing more than 50 digital archive websites has been a major issue.
Currently, some of the websites have been closed because of the challenge to maintain them.
Digital archives require costs for maintenance and hardware updates. We must take these costs
into consideration. In order to prevent records from disappearing with the closure of these3

websites, the National Diet Library and Tohoku University are preparing a system to transfer thesedisaster records.
Digital archives of the Great East Japan Earthquake have influenced the current practice of
keeping records of disasters, including the construction of digital archives of the Kumamoto
Earthquake in 2016 and wind and flood disasters in the past and recent years.

Conclusion - from the author
It is important to accurately understand the reality of the Great East Japan Earthquake inorder to pass on the stories and lessons of the disaster. In order to do so, it is necessary to see theactual records of the disaster and interpret them independently. We hope that Disaster Digital
Archives will provide opportunities to do this.

References
Cabinet Secretariat. (n.d.). Great East Japan Earthquake Reconstruction Initiative Council, May 10,
2011. Retrieved October 13, 2020, from http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/fukkou/ (In Japanese).
Disaster Management Cabinet Office. (n.d.). Cabinet Office Central Disaster Prevention Council &Disaster Prevention Measures Promotion Review Meeting, 11th meeting. Retrieved October 13,
2020, from http://www.bousai.go.jp/kaigirep/chuobou/suishinkaigi/11/index.html (In Japanese).
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. (2013, March). Guidelines for the construction andoperation of digital archives related to the earthquake. Retrieved October 13, 2020, fromhttp://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_seisaku/ictseisaku/ictriyou/02ryutsu02_03000114.html (InJapanese).

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