According to official estimates, the 2011 tsunami washed about 5 million tons of debris into the ocean. About two-thirds of that quickly sank. The remainder was carried along the coast of Japan and then out into the Pacific Ocean. The trash from the March 11, 2011 tsunami began to reach the west coast of the USA in 2012 and 2013, creating new, complex, and unexpected ecological and environmental problems.

1. 2011 TSUNAMI DEBRIS CONTINUOUS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

2. REMEMBERING SOME OF
THE LESSONS FROM ONE
OF 2013’S UNEXPECTED
DISASTERS
PART 4: TSUNAMI TRASH

3. NATURAL HAZARDS THAT INCREASE A
NATURAL HAZARDS THAT INCREASE A
COMMUNITY’S RISK
COMMUNITY’S RISK
GOAL: DISASTER
GOAL: DISASTER
RESILIENCE
RESILIENCE
ENACT AND IMPLEMENT
ENACT AND IMPLEMENT
POLICIES HAVING HIGH
POLICIES HAVING HIGH
BENEFIT/COST FOR
BENEFIT/COST FOR
COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
EARTHQUAKES/TSUNAMIS
TYPHOONS
FLOODS
LANDSLIDES
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

4. EARTHQUAKE
VIBRATION
DAMAGE/LOSS
DAMAGE/ LOSS
REGIONAL
DEFORMATION
DAMAGE/ LOSS
DAMAGE/ LOSS
AMPLIFICATION
DAMAGE/LOSS
TSUNAMI
FOUNDATION
FAILURE
FAULT RUPTURE
DAMAGE/ LOSS
LIQUEFACTION
DAMAGE/ LOSS
LANDSLIDE
DAMAGE/ LOSS
AFTERSHOCKS
DAMAGE/ LOSS
SEICHE
DAMAGE/ LOSS

5. TSUNAMIS
• OCCUR IN THE PACIFIC’S
“RING OF FIRE,” THE
INDIAN OCEAN, THE
CARIBBEAN, AND THE
MEDITERRANEAN
• TSUNAMI WAVES CAN
AFFECT DISTANT
SHORELINES THOUSANDS
OF MILES FROM THE
EPICENTER

6. CAUSES OF
CAUSES OF
DAMAGE
DAMAGE
INADEQUATE RESISTANCE TO
HORIZONTAL GROUND SHAKING
SOIL AMPLIFICATION
PERMANENT DISPLACEMENT
(SURFACE FAULTING & GROUND
FAILURE)
EARTHQUAKES
EARTHQUAKES
“DISASTER
“DISASTER
LABORATORIES”
LABORATORIES”
IRREGULARITIES IN ELEVATION AND
PLAN
TSUNAMI WAVE RUNUP
POOR DETAILING AND WEAK
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
FRAGILITY OF NON-STRUCTURAL
ELEMENTS

7. CAUSES OF
CAUSES OF
DAMAGE
DAMAGE
HIGH VELOCITY IMPACT OF
INCOMING WAVES
INLAND DISTANCE OF WAVE
RUNUP
VERTICAL HEIGHT OF WAVE
RUNUP
TSUNAMIS
TSUNAMIS
“DISASTER
“DISASTER
LABORATORIES”
LABORATORIES”
INADEQUATE RESISTANCE OF
BUILDINGS
FLOODING
INADEQUATE HORIZONTAL
AND VERTICAL EVACUATION
PROXIMITY TO SOURCE OF
TSUNAMI

8. THE TOHOKU DISASTER:
MARCH 11, 2011

9. REGIONAL MAP

10. THE TOHOKU
QUAKE/TSUNAMIGENIC ZONE

11. AN OFFSHORE EPICENTER
• It only took seconds for the Pand S-waves to reach Sendai,
and about 15 minutes for the
tsunami waves, but what a
difference in damage..

12. THE TOHOKU DISASTER:
MARCH 11, 2011
• The M9.0 Tohoku earthquake was
huge, but its ground shaking did
NOT cause the disaster that killed
an estimated 21,000 people …
• The tsunami generated by the
earthquake did!

13. THE TSUNAMI—the beginning
• The tsunami, with wave heights
reaching 40 m in some locations,
slammed the east coast of Japan,
sweeping away boats, cars, homes
and people, before racing across
the Pacific, - - -

14. TSUNAMI WAVES:NATON
MYIAGI PREFECTURE

15. TSUNAMI WAVES: COAST OF
NORTHERN JAPAN

16. OARAI INUNDATED BY
TSUNAMI

17. TSUNAMI WAVS: SENDAI
AIRPORT

18. SENDAI AIRPORT: COVERED
WITH MUD FROM TSUNAMI

19. SENDAI AIRPORT: COVERED
WITH CARS, MUD, & DEBRIS

20. TSUNAMI DAMAGE

21. SOCIETAL IMPACTS
• Four and one-half million left without
electricity.
• One and one-half million without water.
• Metro, trains, and airport shut down.
• 1.2 million buildings damaged.
• Economic losses estimated at $574
billion and deaths at 21,000.

22. ESTIMATES OF THE AMOUNT
OF TSUNAMI TRASH
• According to official estimates, the
2011 tsunami washed about 5 million
tons of debris into the ocean.
• About two-thirds of that quickly sank.
• The remainder was carried along the
coast of Japan and then out into the
Pacific Ocean

23. THE TSUNAMI RACED
ACROSS THE PACIFIC

24. ACROSS THE PACIFIC
• --- The tsunami waves raced across the
Pacific at 822 -1222 kph (500 to 800
mph) to arrive 5-7 hours later in Alaska
and Hawaii and other parts of the West
Coast of the USA, and 18 hours later
along the coast of South America.

25. FOLLOWED BY A CONTINUUM
OF TRASH ARRIVALS
• --- The trash from the March 11, 2011
tsunami began to reach the west coast
of the USA in 2012 and 2013, creating
new, complex, and unexpected
ecological and environmental problems.

26. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
TSUNAMI TRASH
• Studies showed that items like fishing
buoys that catch the wind easily
eventually ended up on the western
coast of North America, from Alaska to
Oregon.

27. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
TSUNAMI TRASH
• Items like boats, docks and
refrigerators that catch some wind,
but are also influenced by
currents, headed towards the same
USA coasts, then on to Hawaii,
and are now circling around Hawaii
before continuing onward.

28. TSUNAMI TRASH ARRIVES IN OREGEN
WITH LIFE ABOARD: 15 MONTHS LATER

29. DESCRIPTION OF THE DOCK
THAT REACHED OREGON
• The dock ripped off a port in Japan
was massive: A 188-ton, 20-meter long
concrete, steel and styrofoam block,
draped in streamers of seaweed and
plastered with mussels, barnacles,
crabs and more than 100 other marine
organisms.

30. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
TSUNAMI TRASH
• Items like fishing nets and lines that
move underwater were carried entirely
by currents and are now ending up in
the Pacific Garbage Patch, a sprawling
vortex in the North Pacific where
plastic and other trash collects.
• Some of this trash may eventually be
carried back toward Japan.

31. THE TSUNAMI TRASH--- STILL
TRAVELLING
• --- The trash from the March 11, 2011
tsunami is expected to continue
arriving along the entire West Coast of
North America during 2014.
• By 2016, it is estimated that the debris
will return again to Hawaii, leaving little
time for Hawaii’s beaches, reefs and
wildlife to recover from the 2012 hit.

32. LESSONS LEARNED FOR
TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE
• ALL TSUNAMIS.
• EARLY WARNING IS
ESSENTIAL FOR TIMELY
EVACUATION OF
PEOPLE AND
SHUTDOWN OF
CRITICAL FACILITIES
(E.G., NUCLEAR
POWER PLANTS).

33. UNEXPECTED IMPACTS DO
HAPPEN
• Radiation levels at the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
facility were 1,000 times normal
levels.

34. FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR
FACILITY HAD 3 FAILURES

35. LESSONS LEARNED: EMERGENCY
RESPONSE CAN BECOME A NIGHTMARE!
• The fires and explosions in the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility
and radiation levels that were 1,000
times normal levels created a
“nightmare emergency response
scenario” for the Government of
Japan.

36. Immediately after the
earthquake and tsunami,
the Japanese Government
began implementing its postdisaster response plans in a
highly-charged, possible
“nightmare nuclear disaster”
environment.

37. EVACUATION
• Approximately 450,000
people were evacuated by
military personnel from
areas damaged in the quake
and in a 33 km radius
around the nuclear facilities

38. EVACUATION OF CHILDREN

39. JAPAN’S SEARCH AND RESCUE
• Approximately 50,000
members of Japan’s Self
Defense Forces were
mobilized immediately and
sent to the hardest hit areas.

40. LESSONS LEARNED: SEARCH AND
RESCUE CAN BE UNUSUALLY DIFFICULT
• With so many people (about 20,000)
missing over a wide area after the
tsunami, search and rescue was an
unusually difficult, highly-stressed,
and politically sensitive operation.

41. JAPAN’S SEARCH AND
RESCUE TEAMS
• The Japanese top urban search
and rescue teams, which had
been helping in the search for
Christchurch, New Zealand
earthquake victims for two
weeks, were ordered to return
to Japan..

42. JAPAN’S SEARCH AND RESCUE
• Tokushu Kyuunan Tai, the
search and rescue unit of
Japan’s Coast Guard, was
dispatched to accelerate
search and rescue
operations..

43. SEARCH AND RESCUE

44. SEARCH AND RESCUE:
RIKUZENTAKADA

45. SEARCH AND RESCUE: SOMA;
FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE

46. SEARCH AND RESCUE:
MIYAGI PREFECTURE

47. All actions were conducted
with knowledge of the high
risk associated with a
significant radiation release
and the unthinkable
possibility of a nuclear melt
down.

48. LESSONS LEARNED: THE “IMPOSSIBLE”
MAY REALLY BE IMPOSSIBLE
• Search and rescue operations,
evacuations, and humanitarian
assistance on local and global
scales were all slowed to a
crawl by the possibility of a
“nightmare nuclear disaster.”

49. 69 COUNTRIES THAT PROMISED
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE COULD
NOT DELIVER BECAUSE OF THE
PERCEIVED RISKS ASSOCIATED
WITH NUCLEAR RADIATION, THE BAD
WEATHER, PROBLEMS ON THE
GROUND, AND LACK OF FUEL

50. LESSONS LEARNED: MASS CARE
CAN BORDER ON THE IMPOSSIBLE
• Shortages, closed roads,
and lack of fuel made it very
difficult to meet evacuee’s
and survivors’ needs for
food, water, electricity,
medicine, and urgent
healthcare.

51. LESSONS LEARNED: BE READY TO WORK
AT THE LIMITS OF YOUR CAPABILITY
• Japan’s social, technical,
administrative, political, legal,
health care, and economic
systems were tested to their limits
by the socio-economic impacts of
the tsunami, the radiation, and the
harsh weather..

52. TOWARDS TSUNAMI
DISASTER RESILIENCE

53. THE KEYS TO RESILIENCE:
1) KNOW THE TSUNAMIGENIC SOURCES
IN YOUR REGION,
2) BE PREPARED
3) HAVE A WARNING SYSTEM
4) HAVE AN EVACUATION PLAN
5) ACCELERATE CAPACITY
BUILDING BY LEARNING FROM
OTHERS’ EXPERIENCES

54. TSUNAMI RISK
• TSUNAMI HAZARDS
•INVENTORY
•VULNERABILITY
•LOCATION
DATA BASES
AND INFORMATION
ACCEPTABLE RISK
RISK
UNACCEPTABLE RISK
TSUNAMI DISASTER
RESILIENCE
COMMUNITIES
POLICY OPTIONS
HAZARDS:
GROUND SHAKING
GROUND FAILURE
SURFACE FAULTING
TECTONIC DEFORMATION
TSUNAMI RUN UP
AFTERSHOCKS
•PREPAREDNESS
•PROTECTION
•FORECASTS/WARNINGS
•EMERGENCY RESPONSE
•RECOVERY and
RECONSTRUCTION

55. CREATING TURNING POINTS FOR
TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE
 USING EDUCATIONAL SURGES CONTAINING
THE PAST AND PRESENT LESSONS TO FOSTER
AND ACCELERATE THE CREATION OF TURNING
POINTS

56. LESSONS LEARNED FOR
TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE
• ALL TSUNAMIS
• CAPACITY
BUILDING FOR
TSUNAMI
DISASTER
RESILIENCE IS
NEVER FINISHED.

57. 2014--2020 IS A GOOD TIME
FOR A GLOBAL SURGE IN
EDUCATIONAL, TECHNICAL,
HEALTH CARE, AND POLITICAL
CAPACITY BUILDING
IN ALL FIVE PILLARS OF
COMMUNITY
DISASTER RESILIENCE

58. CREATING TURNING POINTS FOR
TSUNAMI DISASTER RESILIENCE
INTEGRATION OF SCIENTIFIC AND
TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS WITH POLITICAL
SOLUTIONS FOR POLICIES ON
PREPAREDNESS, PROTECTION, EARLY
WARNING, EVACUATION, EMERGENCY
RESPONSE, COPING WITH TSUNAMI
TRASH, AND RECOVERY

59. INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL
INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
CONSIDERATIONS
OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: For Disaster Resilience on
OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: For Disaster Resilience on
local, regional, national, and global scales
local, regional, national, and global scales
THE KNOWLEDGE BASE
Real and Near- Real Time Monitoring
Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk
Characterization
Best Practices for Mitigation
Adaptation and Monitoring
Situation Data Bases
Cause & Effect Relationships
Anticipatory Actions for all Events and
Situations
Interfaces with all Real- and Near RealTime Sources
Gateways to a Deeper Understanding
APPLICATIONS
Relocation/Protection of
Offshore Facilitiess
Create a Hazard Zonation
Map as a Policy Tool
EDUCATIONAL SURGES
Enlighten Communities on Their
Risks
Build Strategic Equity Through Disaster Scenarios
Implement Modern Codes
and Lifeline Standards
Involve Multiple Partners in
Turning Point Surges
Introduce New
Technologies
Multiply Capability by
International Twinning
Move Towards A Disaster
Intelligent Community
Update Knowledge Bases After
Each Disaster