Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
### 2. Overview of the Unprecedented Large-Scale Damage

In the Great East Japan Earthquake, damages were widespread, caused not only by the massive quake and the huge tsunami, but also by the subsequent aftershocks, land subsidence, ground liquefaction, sediment catastrophe, and fires. Nuclear accidents made the disaster even more complex, creating a situation unprecedented in Japanese history. As a result, it has been extremely difficult to grasp the affected situations. Even at this moment, the whole picture has not been clarified.

## Devastating Damage to Towns

Among the damaged areas are many towns located along the Pacific coast that were hit by the big tsunami and suffered catastrophic damages.

The damage condition survey conducted by MLIT concluded that, as of August 4, in 62 municipalities in six prefectures (Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, and Chiba), inundated built-up areas were about 119 square kilometers out of the total inundated areas (532 square kilometers). It also affirmed that the areas where many buildings were fully demolished (including those that were flooded) was about 99 square kilometers while the areas where many buildings were nearly collapse or half collapse was about 58 square kilometers. This extraordinary scale of devastation in built-up areas can be made clearer when compared to the area of 35 square kilometers lost to fires in the Great Kanto Earthquake and area of 2.6 square kilometers that was rezoned in land-readjusting project after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. A big difference of building damage level exists above and below two meters in inundation height. It was observed that a percentage of fully-damaged buildings to the total buildings greatly reduced when inundation height was below two meters.

Inundation data by municipality shows that devastating damages are widespread in Noda Village and Rikuzen-Takata City in Iwate, and Minami-Sanriku Town and Higashi Matsushima City in Miyagi, where more than 80% of the built up land was inundated.

# 17: District that Suffered Catastrophic Damages from the Great East Japan Earthquake

* Many buildings were flooded; shore protection facilities and transportation infrastructures were severely damaged.

Around Minami-Sanriku Town

Before the Earthquake (Oct. 1982)

After the Earthquake (Mar. 12th, 2011)

Source: MLIT from documents of GSI

$ ^{*} $ Many buildings were flooded; shore protection facilities and transportation infrastructure were severely damaged.
18: Damages Varying by Districts in the Great East Japan Earthquake

Source: MLIT

The Sanriku-coast area has repeatedly experienced massive disasters -- earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis, such as the Meiji-Sanriku earthquake in 1896, the Showa-Sanriku earthquake in 1933, and the Chile earthquake in 1960. The area has therefore passionately carried out disaster drills and education, with its residents sharing a strong awareness of disaster prevention and making use of the severe lessons learned from the past. However, the massive tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake exceeded the severity of previous disasters substantially, swallowing up houses, buildings, ships, and automobiles.

In the municipalities where whole towns were devastated (for example, the town of Minami-Sanriku in Miyagi, where the city government building itself was flooded by the tsunami), administrative functions to manage and control disasters at the front line were greatly damaged. Consequently, there were great difficulties to grasp damages and to carry out immediate rescue activities.
## Many Evacuees and People Afflicted in a Large Area

The Great East Japan earthquake killed 15,690 people across 12 prefectures (as of August 11). $ ^{1} $ The number of deaths greatly surpasses that of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and is the highest since the end of the Second World War. It has been reported that there are still 4,735 missing people, but that figure has not yet been clarified.

More than 99 percent of the dead and missing were from the municipalities along the Pacific coast in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures. This shows us how massive the tsunami damage was.

20: The Number of Deaths or Missing Persons by Affected Prefectures in the Great East Japan Earthquake

21: Seismic and Tsunami Damage in Japan since 1868 (Meiji Era)

Year	Earthquake Name	The number of Casualties (Including Rough Figures)
1923	Great Kanto earthquake $ ^{*} $	105,000
1896	Meiji-Sanriku earthquake $ ^{*} $	21,959
2011	Great East Japan Earthquake $ ^{*} $	20,425
1891	Mino-Owari earthquake	7,273
1995	Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake	6,437
1948	Fukui earthquake	3,769
1933	Showa-Sanriku earthquake $ ^{*} $	3,064
1927	Tango earthquake	2,925
1945	Mikawa earthquake	2,306
1946	Nankai earthquake $ ^{*} $	1,330

Notes: 1. * denotes earthquakes in which a tsunami caused severe damages.

2. The number of casualties from the Great East Japan Earthquake is as of August 11, 2011.

Source: MLIT
22: Significant Damage from Earthquakes and Tsunami Worldwide since 1900

Earthquake Name	Principle Affected Area	Casualties (rough figures included)
1976	Tangshan	China (Tianjin - Tangshan)	242,800
1920	Haiyuan	China (Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region)	235,502
2004	Sumatra-Andaman	Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Maldives, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Kenya	227,898
2010	Haiti	Haiti	222,500
1923	Great Kanto	Japan (Kanto area)	105,000
2008	Sichuan	China (Sichuan)	87,587
2005	Kashmir	Pakistan, India, Afghanistan	86,000
1908	Messina	Italy (Sicily)	82,000
1927	Gansu, China	China (Gansu)	80,000
1970	Peru	Peru	66,794

Source: MLIT based on materials of the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Cabinet Office

Note: The number of deaths in the Great East Japan Earthquake is the one recorded until April 11, 2011. Source: MLIT based on materials of National Police Agency and "White Paper on Disaster Management 2011" of Cabinet Office.

Furthermore, 54 percent of the dead were elderly people (65 years old or older). The high-speed tsunami hit areas with large elderly populations who could not evacuate quickly enough. Consequently, the number of victims during the disaster increased.

24: Rate of Aging in the Affected Prefectures and the Number of Elderly Among the Dead in the Great East Japan Earthquake

Note: The size of circles and the numbers therein show the number of elderly people killed, recorded until August 11, 2-11.

Source: MLIT based on materials of National Police Agency and prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima.
## Column - Huge Tsunami Hit Even Designated Shelters

Each municipality designates public facilities such as schools or public halls as shelters, where people can go to protect themselves from disasters like an earthquake or a tsunami. However, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, huge waves surged toward many of those shelters.

Nobiru Elementary School was one of the designated shelters of Higashi-Matsushima city, Miyagi, and it was safe when a big tsunami hit the area as a result of the Chile Earthquake. The city did not include it in the evacuation area in the tsunami hazard map (as an area that might be inundated). Consequently, not only school children but also neighborhood residents evacuated to the gymnasium of the school, which was destroyed by the massive tsunami.

We have to research these tragic situations to reinforce countermeasures against tsunamis, and to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.

Source: MLIT from documents of Higashi-Matsushima City, Miyagi

## Column - Evacuation Stairs Saved 88 School Children

Iwaizumi Town, Iwate suffered devastating damage as a result of the huge tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, 88 children were saved thanks to tsunami evacuation stairs which had been built 2 years ago at Omoto Elementary School.

Although Route 45 crosses behind it, the building is almost enclosed by cliffs where people can't evacuate once a tsunami hits the

school. In emergency drills taking place at the school, some children had suggested that a safer evacuation route should be developed.

Listening to the suggestion and the opinions of the elementary school and neighborhood residents, the Sanriku National Road Office of the Tohoku Regional Bureau (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) completed the evacuation stairs (130 steps, 30m long).

Source: Iwaizumi Town, Iwate (left); MLIT (right)

The Great East Japan Earthquake resulted in the evacuation of many people across wide areas due to housing loss by the earthquake, the tsunami, and the nuclear plant accidents. As many as 468,000 evacuees were reported 3 days after the main shock (March 14), 1.5 times more than the number of evacuees during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Moreover, the number of shelters needed was more than twice that during the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

Minami-Sanriku Town in Miyagi, where the tsunami caused severe damages, promoted group evacuation to neighboring municipalities based on the will of residents. Futaba Town in Fukushima, which had received evacuation directions due to nuclear accidents, moved administrative functions of its local government and about 1,400 of its residents, almost 20 percent of the total population into Saitama prefecture. Including Futaba Town, eight towns and villages moved their administrative functions to other places and evacuated their residents out of their municipalities -- or even prefecture -- into other prefectures across Japan.

Even on July 28, more than 4 months after the shock, approximately 52,000 residents were still living in shelters and other relocated places $ ^{1} $ .
25: Trend of the Number of Evacuees in the Great East Japan Earthquake (Compared to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake)

Note: The values recognizable at that moment. Source: MLIT based on materials of National Police Agency and Hyogo Prefecture

26: Great East Japan Earthquake evacuees spread across wide area and over long term

Note: The values depend on the ones reported by each prefecture to the Cabinet Office, and do not include the number of evacuees in houses (public, temporal or civil residences, hospitals, etc.)

Source: MLIT from documents of the Cabinet Office
Note: Total of evacuees who followed evacuation directives and calls, and who voluntarily evacuated (including evacuees who were not in shelters). Source: MLIT based on materials of Fukushima Prefecture.

## Damage on Housing and Infrastructures

The Great East Japan Earthquake caused outstanding physical damages, including not only breakdown of lifelines such as electricity, gas, water, and telecommunication, but also damages on housing and buildings, landscapes, transportation, and other life-supporting infrastructures.

Those damages are overviewed hereinafter. However, information about the areas devastated by the tsunami and the areas surrounding the TEPCO Fukushima nuclear power stations where the government issued directions for resident evacuation is partially missing.

## i) Damages on Housings and Buildings

The Great East Japan Earthquake resulted in approximately 112,975 fully-demolished housing, 145,375 half-collapsed housing, and 539,899 partially-collapsed housing $ ^{1} $ .

The earthquake also caused damages to 45,416 non-residential buildings. Public buildings such as municipal offices, schools, and hospitals were also severely damaged. $ ^{2} $

Minami-Sanriku Town in Miyagi was severely damaged by the tsunami, with more than 60 percent of its housing reported to have been fully-damaged.

The earthquake and tsunami brought about not only flooding and collapse of buildings,

## 28 : Damage on Housing (by Municipalities) in the Great East Japan Earthquake

Notes: 1. The data is as of August 11, 2011. MLIT took the number of households in the Population Census (2010) as the total number of housing for the municipalities which had no data on the total number of housing in the Housing and Land Survey (2008).

2. MLIT included half-destroyed housing in "fully destroyed housing" in Ofunato, Iwate and half- and partially-destroyed housing in it in Otsuchi Town, Iwate.

Source: MLIT based on materials of Fire and Disaster Management Agency, "Housing and Land Survey 2008" and "National Population Census (population census) 2010" of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

but also the collapse of ceilings in large buildings such as gymnasiums and airports.
Left: "Report on Seismic Damages of the Great East Japan Earthquake by Investigation Team of Japan Society of Civil Engineering" (Osaki City, Miyagi) Center: Urayasu City, Chiba Right: Abiko City, Chiba

Source: Chiba Environment Research Center

In order to prevent secondary damage by aftershocks and other causes, risk levels of 95,381 damaged buildings, including risks of collapse, were urgently checked in 149 municipalities in 10 prefectures. The result as of August 11 was that 11,699 buildings were judged as “being dangerous to enter” and 23,191 buildings were evaluated as “needing caution to enter”.

The long and strong shaking during the main shock and the following aftershocks caused landslides in large-scale embankments of development sites. The results of a survey of risk levels of 6,531 housing sites, carried out in 56 municipalities in nine prefectures, shows that 1,456 housing sites were judged to be “dangerous” and 2,209 sites were judged as “needing caution” (as of August 7). Numerous landslides occurred at relatively old housing development sites along hilly slopes. Consequently, many residents were forced to evacuate.
from those sites.

Furthermore, liquefaction occurred in wide areas, extending from Tohoku to Kanto regions, including the Tokyo Bay area $ ^{1} $ . It occurred not only in areas such as reclaimed lands where the possibilities of liquefaction was recognized to be high, but also in inland areas including Saitama and Chiba prefectures and areas along the Tone River. The liquefaction made the ground weaker and caused many damages such as leaning in houses $ ^{2} $ .

## ii) Damages on Coast, River and Sediment

The massive earthquake and the accompanying crustal movement caused widespread land subsidence in areas including the coastal area and the inland of the Sendai Plain $ ^{3} $ . For example, in the Sendai Plain, the area below average sea level increased by 5.3 times to 16 square kilometers; the area below spring high tide increased by 1.8 times to 56 square kilometers; and the area below the recorded highest sea level increased by 1.3 times to 111 square kilometres. $ ^{4} $ Moreover, the collapse of sea levees and erosion of sand dunes significantly decreased safety levels against tidal waves.

A brief survey based on aerial photos confirmed that out of 300 kilometers of coast levees in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, about 190 kilometers of levees were fully or half destroyed.

In the area along Sanriku coast, the height of developed sea levees had been planned based on

inundation heights of past massive tsunamis. In the Pacific coast area extending from Sendai Plain to Fukushima prefecture, the height of developed sea levees had been planned based on expected high tides. However, comparing the levees' heights with the tsunami traces measured near levees, the massive tsunami of this time was much higher than the levees' heights, mostly on all the coasts, with the exception of a few, including Fudai Coast in Iwate. Consequently, its extraordinary pressure destroyed or damaged the levees.

31: Land Subsidence Across the Sendai Plain After the Great East Japan Earthquake

Source: MLIT and Miyagi Prefecture.

32: Damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake along Coastal Areas (South Coast of Sendai Bay) Before the earthquake After the earthquake
33: Rationales of Planned Levee Top Heights and Inundated Heights of Tsunami Caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake

The tsunami over the watergate (T.P. 15.5m), but the damage was not much because of the long distance to the town area.

As for coasts whose inundation heights are less than the heights of levees:

(Except Fudai Coast (Otanabe))

• Overriding wave brought inundation damage.

• Observed points of inundation are located inland side of levees.

• Those points are inland side of levees, so the inundation height was reduced to less than the height of levees.

Source: MLIT

Current top height of levees

Planned top height of levees

Inundated height of this earthquake $ ^{*} $

Plot of inundation heights observed near levees

※ Primary results reported by the joint survey group for 2011 off the Pacific Coast for the Tohoku Earthquake

(http://www.coastal.jp/ttjt/) as of July 15th, 2011

Coast whose area had no or little damage

✉ Determined in the Water and Disaster Management Bureau, based on the outline map of the imundated area by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan
## 34 : Damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake to Rivers

2,115 points along nationally managed rivers, including the Kitakami River and the Tone River, were observed to be damaged due to levee breaks or massive embankments falling. 1,360 damaged points in locally managed rivers have also been reported. Reasons for many and widespread damages on river levees are not only fast acceleration of seismic vibration in the Pacific coast areas in Tohoku region, but also long duration thereof in the Tohoku and Kanto regions.

Left: Kitakami River (breached levee)

Right: Edo River (liquefaction)

Not only were deformations

Source: MLIT

through liquefaction of crustal foundation observed as expected, but also the unexpected deformation via partial liquefaction of embankment, were confirmed. It is necessary to reconsider anti-seismic capacity of levees and to discuss the promotion of countermeasures based on the knowledge obtained from this disaster.

136 cases of sediment disaster happened in twelve prefectures, including Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima. 19 people were killed, and many landslides on hillsides were observed as well.

## iii) Damage on Transportation Infrastructures

Fifteen expressways, 69 sections of nationally managed national roads, 102 sections of prefecturally managed national roads, and 540 sections of prefecture roads were closed due to damages that included flooded and collapsed bridges. $ ^{1} $ Road damages were especially severe in the Pacific coast areas centered in the Tohoku region, including National Road 45 which runs vertically from Sendai City in Miyagi and across Sanriku coast areas. Many sections of national and prefectural roads became impassable.

## 35 : Sediment Disaster due to the Great East Japan Earthquake (Hanokidaira, Shirakawa City, Fukushima)

Source: MLIT

## 36 : Damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake to Roads

Left: Tohoku Expressway, Fukushima Iizaka IC – Kunimi IC

Center: Route 45, Kamaishi City, Iwate

Right: Miyagi Prefectural Road, Ishinomaki-Onagawa Line, Hiyori Bridge

Source: East Nippon Expressway (left); MLIT (center); Miyagi Prefecture (right)
Column - Embankment Structure of Sendai Tobu Highway Saved Many Lives

In the Great East Japan Earthquake, many roads were badly affected, but some roads played essential roles in saving local residents when the huge tsunami occurred. Sendai Tobu Highway goes through coastal areas of Sendai City, Miyagi from south to north, passing by Wakabayashi Ward in the city that was demolished by the massive tsunami. Its structure consists of an embankment of 7 to 10m higher than the area around it. In the Rokugo District of Wakabayashi Ward (near the mouth of the Natori River) is wide flatland, so there is no higher ground except for the road. Many residents quickly ran up the side slopes of the road to escape from the tsunami descending upon them.

230 people who evacuated to the road between Sendai Wakabayashi Junction and Natori Interchange narrowly escaped. Moreover, there were obvious differences in the damage to both areas between it. Sendai Tobu Road fulfilled two functions: higher ground for evacuation and coastal levee.

Some residents had requested to have the road designated as an emergency evacuation area even before the disaster. It will be necessary to discuss the role of roads that can be used as countermeasures against tsunamis.

Source: MLIT

Railways were also severely damaged. The Shinkansen lines of Tohoku, Akita, and Yamagata were affected, especially those operating along the Pacific coast which lost station buildings and rails by flooding. As of 15:00 on March 13 -- 48 hours after the shock -- 64 lines of 22 business operators were forced to stop their operations. While the inland-running Tohoku Shinkansen and Tohoku Line resumed operation in mid-April, railways along the coast, with the exception of a few, have still not seen any prospect of restoration.

Reflecting on the damages caused by the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the Mid-Niigata Earthquake, Shinkansen introduced countermeasures for earthquakes, including stricter and strengthened earthquake-resistance standards for civil structures such as elevated bridges, reinforced anti-seismic capacity of existing buildings, introduction of emergency train stoppage system, and installment of equipment to reduce derailment damages. Although there was a breakage of power poles and damage of wires, there were, thanks to the above measures, no serious damages such as injury of passengers and collapse of elevated bridges.

## 37 : Damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake to Railroads

Premises of Sinchi Station, Tokiwa Line

Source: MLIT based on materials of Fukushima Prefecture

Platform of Sendai Station, Tohoku Shinkansen
38: Damage to Shinkansen from Massive Earthquakes

Great East Japan	Hanshin-Awaji	Mid-Niigata
Breakout Time	2011.3.11 (Fri) 14:46	1995.1.17 (Tue) 5:46	2004.10.23 (Sat) 17:56
Moment Magnitude (Mw)	9.0	6.9	6.7
Section of Damaged Line	536km (Omiya to Iwate-Numakunai)	83km (Shin-Osaka to Himeji)	65km (Urasa to Tsubame-Sanjo)
Derailment of Running Trains	None	None	1
Casualties	None	None	None
Fallen Bridges	None	8	None
Damage on Pillar of Elevated Bridges	About 100	708	47
Misaligned Breams	2	72	1
Fallen Tunnel Surfaces	None	1	4
Damaged Power Poles	About 540	43	61
Days from the Breakout Day to Resuming Operations	49 days	81 days	66 days

Source: MLIT.

## Column - Shinkansen System Secured the Safety of Passengers

For the Shinkansen, not only had seismographs been installed in coastal areas and along operational lines, but a system to have trains slow down and stop before huge earthquake occur was also introduced. Moreover, in light of an accident during which one of the Joetsu Shinkansen's in operation derailed during the Mid Niigata Earthquake of 2004, Japan Railway had also reinforced the system in the Tohoku Shinkansen. In addition, the "Early Earthquake Detection System" has been introduced. It sends signals from seismographs set along Shinkansen lines and along the Pacific Coast areas to stop trains before the main shock arrives.

When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, 27 trains were in operation (8 of them were stopped at stations). However, thanks to the system working successfully, all the trains stopped safely. There were no casualties.

The Tohoku Shinkansen has been just extended to Shin-Aomori and started operation in the area on December 4th, 2010. It was expected to contribute as the large artery in the area for further economic and cultural developments. Shortly after, it came to suffer a great hazard, but the fact that no one was injured in such a massive earthquake verified and exhibited the high safety technologies of the Japan Shinkansen system to the world.

①: Seismographs detect profile of P wave and extrapolate a huge earthquake or detects seismic wave over a standard.

②: In the case of above 1, electrical transmission from rail substation is automatically stops.

③: Emergency brake system on a train goes off to have it slow down to stop.

Source: MLIT.