JWF News Vol.79
April 6, 2011
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----- Contents -----
• Foreword: Major Earthquake on March 11
• Donation for the Great East Japan Earthquake
• News from the Japan Water Forum
• Activities of Team Water Japan
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Foreword: Major Earthquake on March 11
| By Secretary General, Kotaro Takemura
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I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake for the loss of so many invaluable lives. I also would like to extend my heartfelt sympathy to those still suffering.
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake and massive tsunami hit the Tohoku and Kanto districts. With wrenching hearts, people across the country have watched footage of the tsunami rushing across coastal areas of Tohoku, and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Many foreigners are now fleeing Japan. The Japanese, however, have been fated to live on these disaster-prone islands since ancient times.
<The Disaster-prone Japanese archipelago>
In 1853, a U.S. fleet led by Commodore Perry appeared off Uraga. In the following year, the Edo Shogunate concluded the Japan-US Treaty of Peace and Amity. Japan was open to the world after more than 200 years of isolation. Westerners landed on the Japanese islands one after another. They were surprised to find that Japan was incredibly prone to natural disasters. In July, 1854, the magnitude-7.6 Ansei Iga Earthquake occurred, claiming 1,800 lives. This, however, was only the prologue to a series of horrifying incidents in the country.
On December 23 in the same year (1854) saw the magnitude-8.4 Ansei Tokai Earthquake, centered in Suruga Bay. On the following day, the magnitude-8.4 Ansei Nankai Earthquake, centered off the Kii Peninsula occurred. The death toll from these two earthquakes was 30,000. In addition, in November the following year (1855), a magnitude-6.9 inland earthquake struck the Tokyo area, causing the loss of more than 10,000 lives through collapsing houses and fires.
In the wake of these three great earthquakes, as many as 3,000 aftershocks were recorded during the next nine years. Foreigners in Japan were daunted by such massive disasters, but, at the same time, they were astonished at the people's ceaseless efforts towards recovery, however serious the damage.
<Resilient Japan>
Those involved in disaster prevention around the world have called Japan "a showcase of disasters". It is true that Japan has experienced every kind of disaster: earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, torrential rains, floods, abnormal high tides, heavy snow, lightning, tornadoes, landslides, cold weather, droughts, famines, and others. There is no type of natural disaster we haven't experienced. For example, 20% of the world's major earthquakes and 10% of its volcanic eruptions have occurred around Japan, even though the Japanese territory accounts for only 3% of the earth's total land area. This is because four tectonic plates meet near the Japanese archipelago.
| Figure. Japanese Territory, and Active Volcanoes and Great Earthquakes |
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Notes:
*The proportion of Japan's land area to the total land area on earth except for the Antarctic continent (Source: Science Chronology)
*Among 800 active volcanoes, 86 are in Japan (Source: The Encyclopedia of Volcanoes )
*A great earthquake is an earthquake of magnitude-8.0 and above. In the 20th century (1901 - 1994), of 47 earthquakes occurring globally, 8 occurred around Japan (Source: the Encyclopedia of Volcanoes)
We Japanese, living on such disaster-prone islands, have overcome and recovered from every natural disaster. We began growing rice about three thousand years ago on these islands surrounded by the sea, and thus were not a nomadic people moving around a vast area of land. More than 200 years of isolation from the world during the Edo era prevented people from migrating overseas. The topography and history of Japan inculcated into the Japanese a strong will never to give up and to fight back against enormous disasters and the ravages of war. I am sure all of us will pull together to overcome this catastrophic disaster.
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Donation for 2011 the Great East Japan Earthquake
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News from the Japan Water Forum
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Official Side Event on World Water Day 2011: Water and Disasters |
 On March 21, commemorating World Water Day on March 22, the JWF organized a symposium on water and disasters as an official side-event at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. His Royal Highness Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands delivered an opening speech, offering his heartfelt condolences to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. This was followed by lectures and a panel discussion by the representatives of various international organizations. Mr. Yoshiaki Nanami, director of the International Policy Unit of the Infrastructure Policy Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan, attended the symposium.
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Third Japan-China NGO Symposium |
 On February 24 and 25, the third Japan-China NGO Symposium, organized by the Beijing office of the JICA, was held in Beijing. This meeting was aimed at strengthening the network for information exchange and cooperation among NGOs in Japan and China in the area of environmental education. Nineteen Japanese organizations, including private groups and companies, and 48 Chinese organizations participated. |
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Activities of Team Water Japan
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Discussion on the Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake |
 The 8th meeting of the Committee on Basic Strategy of the Water Security Council of Japan (WSCJ) was held on April 8. The committee discussed WSCJ's responses to the Great East Japan Earthquake, which caused enormous damage to the Tohoku and Kanto districts.
In preparation for the meeting, Mr. Kazunari Yoshimura, chairperson of the Committee on Technology and System, including some members of the JWF, the secretariat of the WSCJ, has visited the Tohoku district to research the damage. Details of the research will be posted shortly on the JWF's website.
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