Visit and Field Research Collaboration with UCL IRDR and IRIDeS (2022/5/31 - 2022/6/5)
Themes: disaster area survey, international exchange, energy, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, economic recoveryand local communities
Location: Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures

From 31 May to 5 June 2022, Professor David Alexander and Dr. Gianluca Pescaroli from the Institutefor Risk and Disaster Reduction (IRDR) University College London (UCL), United Kingdom visited
Tohoku University, and conducted a joint field survey with IRIDeS faculty as part of collaborative
research on international disaster management, and discussed current and future collaboration withIRIDeS and Tohoku University. To deepen knowledge of the situation at nuclear power plants in theareas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, as well as the current situation and challenges oflocal economic reconstruction after the disaster, and memorialization of the tragedy, UCL and IRIDeS
faculty visited various sites in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures.
Coordinated by Researcher (Specially Appointed) Miwako Kitamura (International ResearchCollaboration Office), the field visit of UCL faculty was joined by Assoc. Prof. Elizabeth Maly
(International Research Collaboration Office) and Assoc. Prof. Anawat Suppasri (TsunamiEngineering Lab) of IRIDeS. At the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, participants werebriefed on the situation at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at the TEPCO
Decommissioning Archive Center, toured the power plant buildings undergoing decommissioning, anddiscussed the disaster preparedness of nuclear power plant facilities and the BCP in an emergency.
At the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station, Tohoku Electric Power Company staff provided detailed
explanations of the complicated situation at the time of the earthquake and the importance of working
with the local community as part of the power plant’s role. Based on a simulation, the participants
inspected the seawall, emergency power supply, and disaster command facilities and discussed
disaster prevention and mitigation plans.
Study of local economic recovery after the disaster included visits to Kawauchi Winery in Kawauchi
Village, Fukushima Prefecture, where the local economy has become more self-reliant since thedisaster. They were briefed on winemaking for regional economic revitalisation and grape cultivation
suited to the Kawauchi region. In City of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, they visited Shimin Energy,
which is working to revitalize the local economy through the regeneration of sustainable energy, andWatami Farm, which operates a local public transportation system using electric vehicles and hosts
sightseeing at a pesticide-free vegetable farm. Through discussion with local government staff andlocal business owners, participants grasped the current situation in Okuma Town, including what
happened in the 11 years since the GEJE, as well as current nuclear emergency planning.
Regarding the theme of earthquake disaster and memory, participants deepened their knowledge ofdisaster records and disaster museums by visiting the earthquake remains of school memorialmuseums, including the former Ukedo Elementary School in Namie Town, Fukushima Prefecture,
former Nakahama Elementary School in Yamamoto Town and former Arahama Elementary School inSendai City in Miyagi Prefecture, as well as the Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum in City ofRikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, and The Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster
Memorial Museum in Futaba Town, Fukushima Prefecture.
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Discussion of future collaboration was held in a meeting between visiting UCL faculty and IRIDeS
faculty: Prof. Kenjiro Terada (Computational Safety Engineering Lab), Prof. Shinichi Egawa(International Cooperation for Disaster Medicine Lab), Prof. Yuchi Ono (2030 Global DRR Agenda
Office), Assoc. Prof. Takako Izumi (International Strategy for Disaster Mitigation Lab), Dr. Suppasri,Dr. Maly, Assoc. Prof. Sebastien Boret (International Research Collaboration Office) and Dr. Kitamura.
In addition, Prof. Alexander and Dr. Pescaroli also had a lively discussion about future full-fledged joint
research and international collaboration with Tohoku University Executive Vice-President Toshiya
Ueki, Vice-President Masahiro Yamaguchi and others, joined also by IRIDeS Director Fumihiko
Imamura (Tsunami Engineering Lab), Prof. Shunichi Koshimura (Deputy Director of the Center of Cocreation Center for Disaster Resilience, Disaster Geo-informatics Lab), Assoc. Prof. Yo Fukushima(Inland Earthquake and Volcano Lab) and Prof. Michio Ubaura (Spatial Design Strategies Lab).
The participants expressed their ambition to develop inclusive disaster prevention research to realise
the social contributions to diversified international challenges, such as global warming and disasters,
through research collaboration between UCL IRDR and IRIDeS.

Observing sea wall in Futaba area

Visiting TEPCO
Decommissioning Archive center

Fukushima Kawauchi winery

Meeting with Tohoku university

Meeting with IRIDeS member

Visiting at The Great East Japan Earthquake
and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum

Former Onagawa Police box

Ukedo Elementary School Earthquake
Memorial Ruins

Text and Photos: Miwako Kitamura, Elizabeth Maly, Boret Penmellen Sebastien(International Research Collaboration Office)Anawat Suppasri (Tsunami Engineering Lab)