The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that occurred in 2011 caused enormous damage to various parts of Japan, but at the same time it highlighted earthquake and tsunami measures, crisis management, information communications, logistics, disaster medical care and many more issues involving complex disasters across a wide area.
We have scientifically examined the issues and lessons learned from these disasters and have promoted research and development aimed at implementing disaster countermeasures to make our society stronger and more resilient against large-scale disasters that are expected in the future. (Activities ended in March 2018)
Program Supervisor
HAYASHI Haruo
President, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention(as of the completion of the R&D Focus Area)
The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused extensive damage across many regions, but it also highlighted a number of issues relating to complex, widespread disasters, including earthquake and tsunami response, crisis management, information and communications, logistics, and emergency medical treatment.
RISTEX scientifically examines such issues and lessons gleaned from disasters with a view to implementing responses that will make our society more resilient to future large-scale disasters.
Goals
- To develop innovative community-based research programs seeking solutions to critical problems arising in the aged society,which involve relevant multi-stakeholders such as scientific disciplines,government agencies,industries and citizens.
- To introduce methodological innovations in research solving problems of the aged society.
- To create a network of R&D centers which will serve as the resource center for redesigning communities for the aged society.
Message from the Area Director
Stemming from burgeoning economic activities and population explosion spurred by developments in science and technology during the 20th century, the "risk society" has been noted as a key theme for the 21st century. This term refers to the need to create societies that are resilient to various types of risk in order to preserve platforms for safe and secure lifestyles and continue sustainable development.
Although the ideal would be to create a society free from disasters and crises, available resources are limited. To achieve a more resilient society using these limited resources, we must identify the risks that threaten society and clarify how to prepare for them.
Specialists in many fields agree that it is essential to integrate science and technology from various sectors in order to promote research and development that will steadily help to alleviate damage with a view to achieving a resilient society. We now need to put this concept into practice, aiming to ensure that research results are implemented in society.
Two crucial key words for this Focus Area are "community" and "links." In particular, we need to go beyond existing community frameworks to examine how diverse elements of society, including industry, academia, government, and citizens, can link together in response to widespread, complex disasters to create more powerful forums.
To ensure that ongoing risk communication and crisis communication in times of emergency function effectively, we will focus on the key prerequisites: people and society. We will also study essential aspects of actual issues, using accumulated knowledge and technologies in individual fields as a starting point and linking these to launch many social implementation endeavors aimed at achieving a resilient society.
Public Needs:
The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused extensive damage across many regions, but it also highlighted a number of issues relating to complex, widespread disasters, including earthquake and tsunami response, crisis management, information and communications, logistics, and emergency medical treatment.
RISTEX scientifically examines such issues and lessons gleaned from disasters with a view to implementing responses that will make our society more resilient to future large-scale disasters.
Goals:
- To scientifically collate and analyze existing R&D relating to disaster mitigation and preparedness as well as information on front-line measures, initiatives, and systems; to take a unified and systematic approach to examining various crises and disasters that could compliacate with each other; and to develop new knowledge and methodologies required to respond effectively in emergencies.
- To provide realistic policy advice and demonstrate workable measures aimed at building safe and secure cities and regions and reassuring citizens by identifying and analyzing current circumstances and issues in crisis and disaster response at the city and regional level, and effectively interlinking knowledge and skills related to safety and security, social systems, and the efforts of all stakeholders (governments, residents, schools, industries, NPOs, NGOs, etc.)
- To build stakeholder networks in order to share information, exchange views, and facilitate partnership and cooperation so that R&D efforts and outcomes are utilized beyond the bounds of the originally studied region or research field, spreading and becoming established over a much broader area.
R&D Projects Elements:
- R&D that utilizes community characteristics to enhance disater resilience
- R&D that encourages effective networks and redesign of self-help, mutual aid, and public assistance schemes
- R&D that builds mechanisms linking individual skills and knowledge to resolve issues relating to safety and security
- R&D that promotes implementation of social mechanisms linking communities (Analysis of legislation, regulations, and systems, and creation of mechanisms for new initiatives)
R&D Projects
FY2014
Category I
|
Producing Explicit Knowledge of Community Resilience for Disaster Management in Remote Islands |
2014.10-2017.9 |
|---|---|
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Development of LODE Method for Improving Self Protection and Resilience against Large-scale Disasters in Modern Communities |
2014.10-2017.9 |
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Creating a Community to Secure the Coexistence of Human and Animal by Improving Disaster Animal Resilience |
2014.10-2017.9 |
|
Construction of Peer Support Communities for Disaster Workers |
2014.10-2017.9 |
|
Development of a Healthcare Area Disaster Resilience Management System Model |
2014.10-2017.9 |
Category II
|
Intergenerational and Interregional Risk Communication through Disaster Evacuation Map |
2014.10-2017.9 |
|---|
FY2013
Category I
|
A Proposal of Planning Methods for Creating Resilient Metropolitan Areas |
2013.10-2016.9 |
|---|---|
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Planning Process of Land Use Models for Sustainable Tsunami Resilience and "Regional Inheritance" |
2013.10-2016.9 |
Category II
|
Disaster Medical Outreach for Urban Communities: An Integrated Approach |
2013.10-2016.9 |
|---|---|
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Optimal Life Recovery Assistance for Publicly Rented Temporary Housing Dwellers in Wide Dispersed Areas |
2013.10-2016.9 |
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Creating Community-Based Disaster Reduction System in the Catastrophic Disaster Area by Protecting the Member of Local Voluntary Organizations |
2013.10-2016.9 |
FY2012
Category I
|
Development of Support Model for Agriculture and Forestry Land Conservation and Resilience after flooding Disaster in Hilly and Mountainous Areas |
2012.11-2015.10 |
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Category II
|
Redevelopment of Tsunami Impacted Coastal Region to Save Life and to Implement Disaster Resilient Community |
2012.11-2015.10 |
|---|---|
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Development of a Disaster Management Support System Based on Computer-assisted Structuring of Disaster Information |
2012.11-2015.10 |
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Development of Comprehensive Disaster Mitigation Project of "Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings" |
2012.11-2015.10 |
Category I: Projects whose goal is to provide options for resolving social problems (the approach to R&D, organization of indicators, etc. for scientific evaluation)
Category II: Projects whose goal is to go all the way to experimental proof of specific technologies, methods etc. to help resolve social problems
Promotion of Social Implementations of Solutions Related to the Kumamoto Earthquakes
| Agricultural Aid and Farmland Restoration Volunteer System Install Support to the Kumamoto Earthquake Site ASAHIRO Kazuo (Associate Professor, Environment and Heritage Design, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University) |
2016.9-2017.3 |
|---|---|
| Earthquake Recovery in Community-Dependent Historic Towns YOKOUCHI Hajime (Associate Professor, National Institute of Technology, Oyama College) |
2016.6-2017.3 |
| Community-Based Reconstruction and Recovery of Cultural Landscape After the Kumamoto Earthquakes ISHIKAWA Mikiko (Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University) |
2017.7-2018.3 |
