tsunamis

[cellio]

Within the first couple days of the Indonesian quake/tsunami six(ish) years ago, death tolls over 100,000 were being reported (final count was over 200,000).

Within the first couple days of the Japanese quake/tsunami, death tolls in the hundreds were being reported. (Of course, we're not done yet.)

The difference in ability to predict and effectively react between wealthy and poor nations is striking. Three orders of magnitude? Yikes. We in the better-off nations usually send aid after the fact, but it really makes me wonder what we could do before the fact to help less-developed nations build better defenses.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Indonesia does have the difficulty of being a bunch of tiny islands (making providing aid more difficult), so has a much more distributed set of local authorities (ditto for communication).

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I believe that after that tsunami there was aid provided for building an alert network in that area.

[siderea]

Well, hold on. My understanding is that a lot of those little tiny islands did pretty well, especially the rural-traditional ones, because they knew "ground shakes"=="head for higher ground". It was the vast continental coastline where people didn't understand what the sea receding meant, which is why they were still there when it came back.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

In that case I stand corrected.

[siderea]

I think it is premature to attribute the difference in numbers to development.

First, compare the lengths of coastline affected by the Boxing Day tsunami and the length of the coastline affected by this one. I believe you'll find the former much larger the latter.

Second, there has been much speculation in the blogosphere at the low numbers reported by the Japanese media. Some have asked whether it is a cultural difference, that they won't report numbers unconfirmed, because they were reporting "hundreds" when it was already known that entire villages were wiped off the face of the earth. There were probably "hundreds" alone on the four missing trains. It seemed pretty clear even at the beginning that those "hundreds" was a gross understatement. They are now reporting about 10k unaccounted for in Sendai alone.

I think it's reasonable to surmise the comparative wealth of Japan contributed to a reduction of the loss of life they might otherwise have had, it is not at all clear that it accounts for all that much.

[fauxklore]

One might need to also compare the populations of the most affected regions. While Japan is a populous country, the Miyagi Prefecture is fairly far from population centers.

A more interesting comparison involves the earthquake itself and is evidence of the impact of well-enforced building codes. The biggest issue in much of the undeveloped / developing world is not the standards applied to the infrastructure, but the widespread bribery used to get out of following them. (And one might also note that traditional building methods fare well under environmental stress.)

[gardenfey.livejournal.com]

I had read an article which mentioned that Japan's strict building code helped save many lives.

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

It did - as Japan has rebuilt from WW2 and has had a population "explosion", they've had the most earthquake proof building codes in the world. Part of that was made possible by their relative wealth, but also by cultural distinctions.

Regarding the loss of life from the tsunami - Japan is benefiting from lessons learned from the Indonesian disaster.

S

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Yea, Japan got clobbered in 1923 (I think I have that right0 and a few times before that and said OK how to make sure we are as ready for next time as humanly possible. They were probably more ready for this than anyone in the world! Of course that took 75 years and a lot of money to pull off.

[dragonazure.livejournal.com]

Following the Boxing Day tsunami, wasn't there a bit of hoopla about the concept of building some offshore (moderately) deepwater breakwaters to help alleviate tsunami effects for areas that are high-risk?

Yes but . . .

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

A few differences. First, the quake that triggered the 2006 Xmas Tsunami was out to sea. There was no warning until the first waves hit. Here, tsunami precautions follow a quake of this magnitude automatically. Second, the Indian Ocean did not have a tsunami alert system because the likelihood of tsunamis in that region is very low, as compared with the part of the Pacific Ocean where Japan lies.

Still, the ability to engineer for disaster and recover from disaster is important, and is an important element of development.

[cellio]

Those are good points. I particularly had not considered the cultural aspect. Thank you.

[cellio]

It sounds like you're saying that traditional building methods do well and modern methods with code enforcement do well, but there's a space in the middle where things are worse off (modern methods but no meaningful codes)? Yeah, I can see that.

[cellio]

Good point, thanks.

[cellio]

I remember the discussion but don't know if it actually got built in the end.

Re: Yes but . . .

[cellio]

Thanks. I thought that even though the Indonesian quake was farther offshore, its higher magnitude meant it was still felt clearly. I could be wrong about that.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

One note: one missing train (which is still bad enough), not four.

My source.

[siderea]

Yay! Glad to hear it. Thank you for the correction. Also, nifty link.

[siderea]

When I was a civil engineering major, I learned many fascinating things in my construction engineering class about putting up buildings in Boston, MA, among them:

1) The contents of the BOCA code.

2) The fact that the local going rate for elevator inspection bribes was $100.

So a toast to those who passed Japan's legendary building code into law -- and two toasts to all the honorable men and women in Japan's construction industry who decided to treat them as the matter of life and death that they are!

[cellio]

Thanks for the neat link!

[cellio]

and two toasts to all the honorable men and women in Japan's construction industry who decided to treat them as the matter of life and death that they are!

Indeed!