Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
Number of buildings designated as tsunami evacuation sites by prefecture

Note: 1. The survey covered 610 coastal and other municipalities (excluding those in Iwate, Fukushima, and Miyagi Prefectures)

2. Prefectures (*) with less than ten buildings designated as tsunami evacuation sites are not included in the graph

(*) In Tokyo, Shimane, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, and Nagasaki Prefectures, no building was designated as such in both June and October. At the end of October, three buildings were designated as such in Aomori Prefecture, one in Akita Prefecture, five in Yamagata Prefecture, nine in Ibaraki Prefecture, eight in Fukui Prefecture, ten in Kyoto Prefecture, two in Tottori Prefecture, four in Okayama Prefecture, Eight in Ehime Prefecture, four in Saga Prefecture, eight in Kumamoto Prefecture, and seven in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Source: This graph has been created based on the survey of the actual condition of tsunami evacuation buildings conducted by MLIT and the Cabinet Office.

## Column Height of Tsunami —— There Is No Upper Limit to Disaster

In the past, there have been various views of the level of tsunami (when it reached the coast) caused by earthquakes with the Japan Trench and its vicinity as their epicenter. According to the Central Disaster Management Council’s Report on the Meiji Sanriku Earthquake and Tsunami in 1896, an earthquake that occurred off the Sanriku coast caused 38- to 39-meter-high tidal waves at Shirahama, Ryori.

The Great Meiwa Tsunami, which devastated the Yaeyama Archipelago, including Ishigaki and Miyako Islands in 1771, killing or leaving missing some 10,000 people, reached a height of 85.4 m in Miyara Village according to the document that described the situation of villages when it struck them though it does not include accurate records of tsunami heights. The credibility of its descriptions is not necessarily clear, but it is inferred that extremely high tsunami struck the islands, and even today, some large stones brought by tsunami from coral reefs are left on the shore in the Archipelago, telling the extraordinary height of tsunami at that time (source: Yaeyama no Meiwa-o-tsunami (Great Meiwa Tsunami in Yaeyama), written by Kiyoshi Makino).

On March 31, 2012, meanwhile, the Cabinet Office published the distribution of seismic intensity, and the height of tsunami, expected when a huge earthquake occurs along the Nankai Trough. In this report, taking into consideration the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, it estimated the highest possible tidal waves considering all possibilities such as earthquakes' and tsunami's wide-area destruction mechanisms, presenting basic materials to examine disaster-prevention measures.

Tsunami stones left on the shore of Shimoji Island

Source: MLIT

Expected Highest Tsunami (by Municipality)

Source: This map has been created using materials from the Cabinet Office.
(More effective tsunami measures for public facilities)

## (1) Review of coastal dyke designs

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami climbed over coastal dykes and other structures, devastating many facilities and causing tremendous damage to the areas behind them. In December 2011, taking this fact into consideration, the Ministry announced its basic policy for measures to make coastal dykes and other structures earthquake-resistant so that they persistently fulfilled their functions even if tsunami exceeded the maximum permissible design heights. After the currents of tsunami climbed over the coastal dykes, they hit the ground in front of the land-side base of the dykes, eventually washing away the facilities. For this and other reasons, the basic policy requires the land-side base of dykes to be covered for protection and coastal dykes to be reinforced by making their land side less steep and therefore more endurable.

## (2) Measures to make rivers earthquake-resistant

After the massive earthquake, tsunami went upstream along rivers and went over their levees, causing enormous damage to the areas along the rivers, and in addition, many river management facilities were hit by tsunami as exemplified by the liquefaction of levees. Taking this damage into account, as a measure to prevent tsunami from going upstream along rivers, MLIT is pushing forward with plans to raise the level of levees at locations in two areas where they are not high enough. One of the two areas is the Tokai area where a huge earthquake is expected to occur in the future and stronger measures are being taken to prevent disasters resulting from earthquakes, and the other is the Tonankai and Nankai areas where disaster-prevention measures are being taken for possible huge earthquakes.

In many estuaries and their vicinities, the water level of rivers at normal times is higher than the ground level, and it is feared that if a massive earthquake occurs and tsunami caused by it goes upstream along rivers, they would cause enormous flood damage. Therefore, the Ministry is taking measures to prevent liquefaction from occurring to such rivers.

Furthermore, in order for dykes and levees to fulfill their functions, it is necessary to ensure that the floodgates, sluice ways, and other facilities installed along the dykes and levees are operated without fail before the tsunami goes upstream. On the other hand, the operation of floodgates and other facilities while the tsunami is expected to arrive soon involves danger. After the recent earthquake, some of the dykes and levees were not operated in time, and some of their operators died from the tsunami. For this reason, the Ministry is striving to ensure that floodgates and other facilities can be operated automatically or via remote control.

Source: MLIT

Chart.54 Automation and Remote Control of Floodgates, Etc.

Source: MLIT
## Column Damage to Levees Due to the Liquefaction of Their Body

The Great East Japan Earthquake hit levees and similar facilities in wide areas from the Tohoku to Kanto regions, and the number of stricken points exceeded 2,000. The cause of extensive damage was liquefaction, and the distinctive features of the earthquake such as the intensity and length of seismic vibrations as well as the number of such vibrations repeated is estimated to have triggered liquefaction.

One form of damage to levees due to liquefaction is the liquefaction of the basic ground as has been expected since early on, and in addition, many levees suffered damage due to the liquefaction of their body on which attention has not been focused in the past.

The liquefaction process for the body of levees involves the lower part of the levee body sinking and becoming loose if the levees are built on sandy earth lying over soft clay layers; layers carrying seepage water being liquefied due to seismic vibrations; and such damage as the sliding of the levee body as well as cracks on the top and its eventual collapse being caused.

In response to this damage, MLIT decided to review methods for checking levees' resistance to earthquakes, including the liquefaction of levees in the list to check their ability to resist earthquakes, and lower water levels inside levees bodies and take other measures, if necessary.

Source: MLIT

## (3) Tsunami and earthquake measures for ports and harbors

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami damaged breakwaters, but it was confirmed that the breakwaters were effective mainly in lowering the level of tsunami and delaying tsunami in reaching the areas they were intended to protect from it. Therefore, for tidal waves higher than those which frequently occur, it is necessary to take evacuation and other measures in a comprehensive way while taking into account the disaster reduction effects of structures.

In addition, loading and unloading sites sank due to liquefaction, hindering cargo work, but earthquake-proof piers were used to transport emergency suppliers, and at the same time, ports and harbors in Hokkaido and on the Sea of Japan side played the role of

complementing cargo transport. Taking these results into consideration, the Ministry strives to minimize damage from earthquakes and tsunami and return distribution functions to normal early on by encouraging the port and harbor authorities to formulate business continuity plans (BCPs), drawing up plans to increase the ability of port facilities to resist earthquakes and tsunami, laying out action plans to be implemented after the occurrence of earthquakes and tsunami, and taking necessary measures based on these plans.

Since it is feared that huge earthquakes occurring along the Nankai Trough or directly below the greater Tokyo metropolitan area will cause damage to wide areas, the Ministry will urge the port and harbor authorities nationwide to establish wide-area backup systems to help each other. It will also work to build disaster-resistant distribution networks by taking earthquake and tsunami measures for pivotal distribution centers.
### Chart. 63 Missing Links in the Expressway Network

In the areas likely to be affected when a Tokai, Tonankai, or Nakai earthquake occurs, there are many national roads feared to be inundated or missing links in the expressway network.

In addition to the traditional concept of road networks mainly to resolve traffic congestion (which pays attention to evaluations of economic efficiency such as traffic volumes and reduction in travel time), the Ministry adopted a method of evaluating wide-area disaster-prevention network and other effects from the viewpoint of road networks to prevent the isolation of local communities and other problems at the time of disaster when including new projects such as Sanriku Coast roads in the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011. Through these examples of project evaluations applied, it intends to improve its evaluation methods so that they further reflect road development effects, including disaster-prevention issues and road network effects.

### Chart. 64 Important Points in Evaluation Methods (Provisional) for Disaster-prevention Functions

Roles of roads clarified by the Great East Japan Earthquake

(Roles of road networks that contribute to wide-area disaster prevention)

➤ Mainstay routes supporting rescue and relief activities, being used to transport emergency supplies, and underpinning recovery efforts

➤ Trunk roads helping residents to evacuate quickly when tsunami arrives and supporting the lives of people in stricken areas

➤ Roads serving as evacuation sites and being effective in stopping tsunami

## (Maintaining diverse means of movement and transport)

When the March 11 earthquake disrupted the railway networks, intercity express buses played a major role as an alternative means of transport. In order to meet fuel shortages, fuel was transported to ports on the Sea of Japan side by tankers and other vessels, and it was also transported by special freight trains using the Sea of Japan routes. Furthermore, in the aviation sector, Hanamaki, Yamagata, and other airports were used as alternatives to Sendai Airport and served as bases for relief operations by air and alternative transport. Based on these lessons learned from the earthquake, it is necessary to consider maintaining means of transport and movement through cooperation among land, marine, and air transport such as establishing wide-area backup systems and ensuring appropriate redundancy to prevent the spread of damage, provide emergency support, and take recovery and reconstruction measures quickly and smoothly.

For this reason, the Ministry is currently considering maintaining alternative means of transport across the modes of transport such as using bus transport effectively according to the progress in the recovery of railway services because it is expected that railways services are suspended for a long time in large cities due to massive earthquakes and other disasters.
(Multi-faceted utilization of social infrastructures: urban parks and roads as evacuation sites and disaster-prevention centers)

While the recent tsunami damage indicates that most of the trees in coastal areas were brought down and washed away, causing damage, other trees were effective to a certain extent in reducing tsunami damage as exemplified by the fact that trees alleviated the damage caused to houses in the area behind them and that they caught vehicles and other floating objects.

Taking this into consideration, MLIT put together Technical Guidelines for Development of Parks and Green Zones Related to Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake so that they could be used effectively when local governments considered reconstruction plans. These guidelines state that parks and green zones fulfill four functions: as one of multiple-defense functions, as evacuation routes and sites, as a

means of recovery and reconstruction, and as an aid to disaster-prevention education. They also illustrate guiding principles for planning and designing parks and green zones so that they produce disaster-reduction effects to the maximum extent.

Cases have also been confirmed in which roads served as evacuation sites for local residents (Sanriku Expressway) and in which they were effective in preventing floods from spreading (Sendai Tobu Road). Road stations, service and parking areas, and facilities integrated with interchanges were also used effectively as disaster-prevention bases. Taking this into consideration, the Ministry implemented disaster-prevention and earthquake-resistant measures for roads as part of its third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011. These measures included adding disaster-prevention functions to transport facilities (using road stations and service and parking areas as disaster-prevention bases, developing emergency connection roads, and installing evacuation staircases) while continuing to take disaster-prevention measures for roads (such as prevention of slope failures, and reinforcement through embankment) and retrofit bridges.

The move to use the slope surface of embankment for expressways in coastal areas as emergency evacuation sites if tsunami arrives is spreading nationwide. In August 2011, outside the stricken areas, Tokushima City of Tokushima Prefecture entered into an agreement with West Nippon Expressway Co., Ltd. to install tsunami emergency evacuation sites on the portion of the Shikoku Expressway that runs in the city. In November of the same year, Shizuoka and Yaizu Cities, both in Shizuoka Prefecture, concluded an agreement with Central Nippon Expressway Co., Ltd. to allow their residents to evacuate to the slope surface of embankment for the Tomei Expressway if tsunami strikes the cities.

Chart. 66 Multi-faceted Utilization of Social Infrastructures

Source: MLIT
## (Promotion of future environmental cities)

Before the earthquake, as part of its New Growth Strategy (adopted at a Cabinet meeting in June 2010), the government had worked out a plan to create future environmental cities, and under this plan, it had intended to generate the world's highest class of success examples in the development of technology, systems, and services and in city planning for the future and disseminate them throughout the country and to the rest of the world, but it also included this plan in the Strategy for Japan's Reconstruction, which was adopted after the earthquake, at a Cabinet meeting in August 2011.

In December 2011, six municipalities in the stricken areas (Ofunato City, Rikuzentakata City, and Sumita Town in Iwate Prefecture; Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture; Iwanuma City, Miyagi Prefecture; Higashimatsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture; Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture; and Shinchi Town, Fukushima Prefecture) were chosen as model future environmental cities, and they are expected to build exemplary future environmental cities and spread them throughout the country. In view of the ongoing drastic review of city planning triggered by the earthquake, MLIT also aims to establish disaster-resistant land use and transport systems with disaster-prevention and disaster-reduction functions added to them---its top priority issue---and work to help realize intensive urban structures and low-carbon cities with less environmental impacts.

## (Initiatives for a low-carbon society)

In order to advance initiatives for a low-carbon society, the Ministry will display its comprehensive strength to give shape earlier than anyone else to what should be used as environmental performance standards for houses and other structures, means of transport, and public facilities, which constitute local communities and national life. Furthermore, by combining these into a package of towns, houses, transport facilities, and other factors, it will promote energy creation, storage, and conservation for the entire city. Specifically, individual measures as described below will be implemented.

## (1) Initiatives for housing and city planning

(a) Promotion of zero-energy housing, etc.

Only 40% of all newly built houses meet the current energy conservation standards. In order to further accelerate initiatives to reduce $ CO_{2} $ emissions from houses, such as introduction of pioneering energy conservation technology that contributes to improvement of heat-insulating performance, etc., the Ministry will provide priority support to zero-energy houses and similar structures.

In order to spread and promote zero-energy houses in stricken areas, meanwhile, the Ministry is inviting projects from private enterprises and other organizations and providing support to the chosen projects.

In addition, the Japan Housing Finance Agency has expanded the range of reduction in long-term fixed interest rates for its housing loan “Flat 35S” for the first five years from 0.3% to 1.0% for stricken areas and from 0.3% to 0.7% for other areas if applicants purchase houses with excellent energy-saving performance.
(b) Resumption of the house eco-point system, etc.

In the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011, the housing eco-point system was resumed as “Reconstruction Support Housing Eco-points” in order to support reconstruction from the March 11 earthquake while revitalizing the housing market and promoting energy conservation for houses.

Under the new system, as in the past, points are granted to newly built wooden eco-houses, that (1) meet the top-runner standards under the Energy Conservation Law or (2) meet the fiscal 1999 energy conservation standards, and in stricken areas $ ^{Note} $ , 300,000 points, twice as many as in other areas, are granted for such houses to support reconstruction efforts.

Under the new eco-remodeling system, as in the past, points are granted to windows and the structure repaired to increase their heat-insulating performance, repair work performed in conjunction with these types of remodeling to make the house barrier-free, and eco-friendly house equipment installed. Points are also granted if applicants take out a remodeling defect insurance policy at the time of remodeling. Up to 300,000 points are issued for one house, but if repair work is performed for seismic retrofitting, an additional 150,000 points are issued for a total of 450,000 points.

This system is also designed so that it contributes to support reconstruction by encouraging applicants to exchange over half of the points granted for products produced in stricken areas or donations to such areas.

Chart. 72 Resumption of the Housing Eco-point System

## Eco-remodeling
## Column Project to Use Renewable Energy from Sewage in Disaster-stricken and Other Areas

The Ministry is considering promoting a package of innovative energy utilization projects and reconstruction city planning with recovery and reconstruction of sewerage damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake as its core.

(Example in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture: Japan’s first project to recover heat from sewers)

The Ministry is considering a project to install heat exchangers in sewers and use sewage heat to supply hot water to commercial facilities in the city employing technology to recover heat energy from sewage. These heat exchangers have brought satisfactory results in similar projects in Germany and other countries. Heat exchangers are installed in sewers at the same time that the damaged sewers are replaced with new ones. Therefore, as sewer replacement needs really grows in the future, the project is expected to provide greater opportunities to contribute to low-carbon city planning using sewage heat.

In FY2011, the Ministry verified the effects of the project, and the results of trial calculations indicated that hot water supply using sewage heat was advantageous than ordinary hot water supply using gas in terms of running cost, that investments could be recovered in around seven years, and that the former method would help reduce $ CO_{2} $ emissions by about 30%.

In FY2012, as part of its project to test innovative sewerage technology (B-DASH Project), the Ministry aims to develop lower-cost, more energy-saving technology (for example, helping reduce $ CO_{2} $ emissions by about 40% compared to gas-based hot water supply) by implementing a test project at the Osaka City Sewerage Science Museum, located next to Osaka City's Ebie sewage treatment plant. The policy of MLIT is to implement similar projects at larger business sites in the future by striving to further develop new technology and accumulate operation know-how.

Conceptual Diagram of the Project for Commercial Facilities in Sendai City

(Example in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture: “Local production, local consumption” energy supply project utilizing biomass from fisheries)

In helping the recovery and reconstruction of damaged sewage treatment plants, the Ministry is considering making the most of not only sludge generated at marine product processing plants but also technology for recovering biogas from neighboring fisheries-related facilities and examining the ideal form of implementing projects through public-private partnership.

Conceptual diagram of synchronizing the recovery and reconstruction of sewage treatment plants with that of fisheries-related facilities in Kesennuma City

Mayor of Kesennuma addressing a local project meeting (November 21, 2011, Kesennuma city hall)

Source: MLIT

Field survey (November 21, 2011, Kesennuma final disposal site)