Tectonic activity and hazards
Disaster Risk Reduction
Resilience in Japan
Part I: Global disaster risk reduction policy, Japan disaster hotspot, resilience and coping capacity
Disaster Risk Reduction
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) describes a concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causal factors of disasters: reduce exposure to hazards, lessen vulnerability of people and property, wisely manage land and the environment, and improve preparedness for adverse events.
Progress has been made around the world since comprehensive disaster risk reduction plans started being adopted in 2005, but remains uneven. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to disaster mitigation – strategies need to be tailored to the needs and level of development of different communities.
©World Bank
Natural hazard events are becoming more frequent and more devastating, and preparing for disasters can save a lot of lives and resources. It is the principle that prevention is cheaper than treatment. In terms of mitigating disasters, better flood control represents the low-hanging fruit. Dams, dykes and better early warning systems can be effective and relatively affordable.
Though there have been significant advances, it is much harder and more expensive to mitigate and adapt for earthquakes. Preventing seismic events and reliably predicting their frequency, magnitude or scale, and pinpointing exactly when and where they will occur, remains beyond the scope of human intervention. While natural hazards tend to give little warning, earthquakes give no warning at all.
Resilience
Disasters can have varying impacts on the vulnerability and resilience of countries and communities over time, which are determined in large part by sustainable development (i.e. alleviation of poverty) and effective governance. The United Nations identifies sustainable development and effective governance as the two highest priorities for reducing the effects of natural disasters.
Resilience, sustainability and well-being of countries, populations and economies are increasingly defined by their capacity to manage and reduce disaster risks through disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, and climate change adaption.
Recognising that poverty is major obstacle to DRR, global policy has shifted from its former emphasis on managing a disastrous event to more preventive and proactive approaches to building resilience. The focus on resilience is shared by:
- the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction(2015–2030), a global policy framework thatfollowed the Hyogo Framework for Action
- the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which followed the Millennium Development Goals and are part of the Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030)
- the Paris Climate Change Agreement (Paris).
Preparedness and mitigation
Mitigation and preparedness are about preventing natural hazards from becoming disasters. While preparedness focuses on how to respond in the event of a natural hazard (i.e., emergency response plans, education and drills, and warning systems), the focus of mitigation measures is to reduce vulnerability and minimise humanitarian and economic impact from disasters (i.e., vulnerability analyses, zoning, building codes).
Tectonic hazard impacts can be managed through a variety of mitigation and adaptation strategies, which vary in their effectiveness. Strategies used to adjust to hazard threat focus on the following:
- modifying the loss: disaster preparedness.
- modifying the event: increase capacity before disasters, learn from past disasters.
- modifying human vulnerability: good governance, all sorts of resources.
Mitigation measures to reduce vulnerability through building resilience, capacity and coping capacity,especially long-term management of economic and urban development, in seismic areas are more likely to be in place in amore economically developed country (MEDC) such as Japan and less likely to be in place in a less economically developed country (LEDC) such as Haiti.
Disaster management cycle
Humanitarian crises are likely to affect more people in the coming decades for several reasons, including:
- climate change and growing number of climate-related natural hazard events.
- rapid population growth, particularly in disaster-prone areas.
- mass urbanisation, often unplanned and unsafe.
DRR can help reduce vulnerability to growing exposure to natural hazard events. Although there is global policy to support and guide them, implementing DRR is largely local and national actors. Unlike sensational disasters and response, the work on disaster risk reduction is not very visible.
Appropriate actions at all stages of the disaster management cycle lead to greater preparedness and reduced risks and vulnerability. The disaster management cycle is designed to reduce the impacts of natural hazards through preparedness, mitigation, prevention, and adaptation.
Japan country profile
Anarchipelago in East Asia between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean peninsula, Japan is an island nation consisting of 6,852 islands. The four main islands are Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Honshu. Apart from the capital Tokyo, other big cities include Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, and Kyoto.
It is the third largest economy in the world. The constitutional monarchy is politically stable with world-class critical infrastructure. The population of 127 million benefits from a high Human Development Index, but is ageing and declining in numbers.
Disaster hotspot
Japan is not only one of the world’s most exposed countries to multiple natural hazards, but also one of the world’s most financially exposed to natural hazards in absolute terms. Most people in Japan are aware that they are at risk of two or more hazards and take an adaptation and acceptance approach.
A disaster hotspot, Japan has the 4th highest exposure in the world, and is the only developed country with a disaster risk of more than 10% due to its extreme exposure to natural hazards according to the World Risk Report (2016). The rankings are based on an index that rates risk relating to five natural hazards: earthquakes, cyclones, floods, droughts, and rising sea levels.
In Japan, storms are the most common (55.4%) followed by earthquakes (17.6%), floods (12.8%), landslides (6.1%), volcanoes (6.1%), and extreme temperature (3.4%) according to CRED EM-DAT (Feb 2015).
Ring of Fire
©USGS
Japan is set in the “Ring of Fire,” where around 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur. In a zone of extreme crustal instability, the Japan trench subduction zone has had 9 events 7+ on scale since 1973.
Minor earthquakes are regular features of life in Japan: magnitudes 4 – 7 are common. Many of these happen at sea.
Disaster risk and vulnerability
©
Japan’s exposure to natural hazards is so high that its disaster risk is still high even though its vulnerability is relatively low. The elderly, like the disabled, can be more vulnerable than others.
Even though Japan draws on resources of all kinds to reduce its vulnerability, its population structure means that elderly and disabled people remain disproportionately affected by natural hazards.
Resilience, capacity and coping capacity
Japan draws on resources of all kinds to reduce the vulnerability of its population. Able to flourish in the face of disaster risk (resilience), it minimises vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout society. It draws on strengths and resources available to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from disasters (capacity), which position the country well to face and manage disasters (coping capacity) and to continue to thrive.
Japan’s resilient attributes / © MSFCapacity: large / Assess, manage and monitor
Identify problems
Establish priorities
Draw on relationships with external actors for wider support, goods and services when needed
Infrastructure and services: strong / These include housing, transport, water, and sanitation systems
Level of development: high / Diverse and developed economic opportunities
Good management of its assets
Acknowledgements
MSF London, and especially the author Severa von Wentzel, would like to thank Mary Doherty for her expert guidance and generous support.
Further information
msf.org.uk1