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概要：
Journal of Humanitarian Studies Vol. 1, 2012The Great East Japan Earthquake, Some ThoughtsBased on 25 Years of Working with Disastersin the Red Cross/Red Crescent MovementBjorn Eder (1)The Great East ....

Journal of Humanitarian Studies Vol. 1, 2012The Great East Japan Earthquake, Some ThoughtsBased on 25 Years of Working with Disastersin the Red Cross/Red Crescent MovementBjorn Eder (1)The Great East Japan Earthquake and TsunamiOn 11 March 2011 at 2.46 pm, the northeast of the island of Honshu was struck by a magnitude 9.0earthquake with the epicentre 120 km off the coast. It was the fourth largest earthquake recorded in theworld since 1900, and the strongest in Japanese history. Within an hour, a giant tsunami which reachedup to 40 meters in the narrow bays and river valleys of this mountainous area, devastated communitiesalong 700 km expanse of coastline. Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures were most severely affected.More than 19,000 people died or are still missing and nearly 6,000 were injured. Of the fatalities, some90 % were drowned in the cold water. More than 65% of those who died were over 60 years old. Thetsunami also seriously damaged three nuclear reactors in Fukushima, where it caused an accident on ascale not experienced since the catastrophic accident at Chernobyl in 1986. It was the tsunami ratherthan the earthquake, which was responsible for virtually all the fatalities and, together with the nuclearaccident, all the evacuees. More than 400,000 people were evacuated to temporary shelters, includingthose displaced from the 20 km zone around the damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant.Public and industrial infrastructure suffered massive destruction. The cold winter weather added to thedifficult situation of those who were displaced.Local authorities and volunteers distributed large amounts of food, water and daily necessities, fuel,medical supplies, much of which were donated by those among the local population who had been lessseverely affected by the disaster and by people in other parts of Japan in a massive expression of solidarity.Commercial companies and officials from neighbouring municipalities and prefectures also rushed toprovide support. Personnel from the Self Defence Forces, fire brigades, coast guards and police from thewhole country were rapidly mobilised to assist, along with 500 nuclear disaster response teams. Morethan 2,000 medical teams went to the affected areas. From around the world, countries and organisationsspontaneously offered search and rescue and relief assistance. The US and South Korean military alsoimmediately responded by sending ships, planes and personnel. The costs of rebuilding after the destructionare estimated to be between 2.5% and 4% of the country’s economic output in 2010.What did the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) do?When the earthquake happened, it rocked buildings much more severely than normal even in Tokyo, andthe staff in JRCS national headquarters there immediately realised that this was exceptional and not just one(1)Since March 2011 Bjorn Eder is Country Representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) inJapan. In 1988 he started to work in disaster preparedness and interventions with the Swedish Red Cross, between 2000 and 2010 as head of theinternational department and before that as responsible first for the Middle East and West Asia, then as director for operations in Asia, Europeand the Americas. From 1994 to 2000 he was delegate and staff of the IFRC in various positions: head of delegation in Bangladesh, director ofthe Middle East/North Africa Region and subsequently of the Europe Region in Geneva. He has had responsibility for support to victims of war,cyclone, earthquake, tornado, flood, drought and cold, relief to refugees, promotion of communal peace and rehabilitation and for a number ofdisaster preparedness and organizational development programs. He also led the Recovery Assessment Team on Sri Lanka after the 2004 IndianOcean tsunami. Prior to joining the Red Cross he was a teacher for 20 years, but engaged as volunteer with slum and rural development in SouthIndia and Bangladesh.人道研究ジャーナルVol. 1, 201257