Reality and Lessons from the Japan Earthquake / Tsunami Tragedy

Osaka - Sunday, March 13, 2011




On Friday afternoon of March 11, magnitude 8.8 earthquake (being revised just now, 12:57, to 9.0, in the explanation broadcasted in the TV news, because of multiple collapse of fault) struck Northern East Japan, provoking huge tsunami, which is described as “Death Wave” and “Hell on Earth” by the U.S. media headlines. This is the largest in Japan with the energy is 180 times that of the Kobe earthquake in 1995 that made the beautiful Kobe city (in western Japan) into a hell all at once mostly with fire, in which as many as 6000 people or more died.



Investigation, rescue and support will be ongoing for a while. Smaller earthquakes of magnitude 3-5 has been continuing in places or wide a scope including in southern area such as Ibaragi, Chiba, Tokyo and Nagano, which is assumed to continue for a month.



1. How is the situation as of 12:55 of March 13 (Japan time)?






1) North Eastern Japan



According to the TV news the author had been watching wince this morning, more than 2,100 people are dead or missing (the number continuously increases even when the author is watching the news), 10,000 people cannot be contacted, 2.15 million households are still without electricity, hundreds of houses are destroyed and hundreds of people are still being evacuated. The devastated area remains submerged. Transportation is paralyzed.



2) Other parts of Japan (Kanto area such as Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa and others)



Even Tokyo and prefectures around Tokyo, far away from the earthquake, were severely affected. Tokyo suffered from earthquake of magnitude 5. Some buildings were partially collapsed. Public transportation paralyzed on March 11 and therefore people had to walk from work/ school or stay overnight and Shinkansen bullet train also stopped (thus people could not return from Osaka, western Japan, to Tokyo), but recovered smoothly the next day.



According to the TV news, currently 310,000 households in Kanto area are without electricity, and 1.4 million houses from Hokkaido to Kanto are without water. Also, Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea in Chiba will be out of service for a while.



3) Factories of leading Japanese Companies



Many global companies located in Japan with factories in the devastated area or in places nearby are forced to stop domestic production for a while, as reported by media including those of the leading U.S. media on March 12. Such companies include automobiles such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda, and consumer electronics such as Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba.



2. How were the actions by various parties?



People evacuated as instructed by government, and investigation and rescue have been ongoing. Experts have been getting together to share information and discuss.



Over 60 countries and regions around the globe including New Zealand that recently suffered from their own earthquake tragedy offered for help and staff are now arriving one after the other this morning. Some countries such as Germany and the U.K. arrived. 150 people from the U.S to arrive soon (or arrived by now).



The Japanese government decided to increase SDF (Self Defense Force) of Japan from original plan of 50,000 to 100,000.



Telecommunication and IT companies have been quick in starting services to help people to connect, share information and find missing people.



Red Cross and many NPOs were also quick in their actions to help. Some individuals also started to act such as donations.



3. What are the lessons from the tragedy?






1) Importance of Risk Management, BCM/BCP and Crisis Communication



It may well be difficult to have simulation training like the one the author experienced at work in 2007 for pandemic flue BCM (Business Continuity Management) / BCP (Business Continuity Plan) and crisis communication but risk management is necessary so if an emergency similar to this earthquake should occur in the future all parties can take appropriate actions immediately and disaster is minimized.



At least manuals should be ready and actions should be taken based on the manuals.



Crisis communication is especially the meaningful lesson from the Fukushima atomic reactor issue. This issue is something unique and significant to this earthquake tragedy yet the information became snarled and many people were confused. This is because this issue was reported with possibility of the meltdown by worldwide media before the official announcement was made by the Japanese government (speech by the Prime Minister and then explanation by the Chief Cabinet Secretary from 20:30 on March 12, which was after the explosion of the first reactor around 15:30. It turned out to be that it was not of the meltdown, the worst scenario, but it seems to take time to “correct” the information once proliferated worldwide.



It is highly understandable that the government needed time to investigate and find out the truth before making an official announcement but they could have minimized misunderstanding if they acted differently much earlier. The government has been disclosing information in a timely manner since the announcement last night and frequent updates have been made this morning.



2) Importance of integrity in accurate information sharing



There have been chain mails which had spread incorrect, negative information about a gas station company whose source and how it started is completely unknown. The corporate communications of the company immediately made a comment saying so and that the company is very sorry to have made nearby residents worried.



With social media, everyone can be a publisher and share information online to make it “viral” so responsibility of the individuals is vital and the key words would be “integrity” and “calmness”.



The above is an exceptional case and there have been information sharing based on “integrity”, helping to overcome the tragedy. Some examples to name just a few include calling to all people in Japan to save energy and transfer the saved energy to areas that suffer from electricity shortage, sharing information about the services of telecommunication and IT companies mentioned above, sharing useful websites, and asking people for information about the friends who cannot get in contact with.



4. The author’s final thoughts



Whatever the situations might have been until now, we cannot go back to the past. We simply need to move forward. We cannot afford to insult or fight with internal and/or external stakeholders. Every individual, every organization and every country/region is expected to help one other, do what he/she can, and fulfill his/her responsibility.



Of course, we need to learn from the incident so that we can manage should something similar occur in the future.



We are all connected and inter-dependence in the today’s global world. That is how we can all survive, co-exist, co-prosper, and realize sustainability.





Resources:-

The earthquake and tsunami tragedy that struck Northern East Japan presents lessons such as risk management and crisis communication, and what kind of mindset and actions we (individuals, organizations, countries/regions) need to have to overcome tragedies. Such mindset and actions are also requirements for sustainability of all of us in the today’s global world.