Fumihiko Imamura

Disaster Control Research Center, Tohoku University
Aoba 6-6-11, Sendai 980-8579, Japan ,
e-mail; imamuratsunami2.civil.tohoku.ac.jp

ABSTRACT

Five years passed since the precipitate tragedy in the 2004 Indian Ocean, which devastated more than 10 countries around the coastal area including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, in the ocean and killed nearly 230,000 people, including visitors from other countries, also resulting in great economic losses. The whole world was heavily shocked by this precipitate tragedy. We should again remind the tsunami damages and should share the lessons through exchanging information on the process for the recovery and re-construction including its impact on other countries as well.

The severest affected area of Indonesia is the northern part of Sumatra, and it is reported that the coastal areas are completely destroyed by the strong shake and sudden attack of the huge tsunami more than 30 m. It was observed that the tidal surge had reached over 40 meters-height on the hilly area where the tsunami run over the top of the peninsula with a saddle shaped hill. The inland inundation mark at Banda Ache city was found up to 5 km from the coast, and there were lot of debris carried out by the tsunami wave into the center of the city, which should increase the destructive power of the tsunami.

In Thailand and Malaysia, many sightseeing spots were seriously damaged and a large number of foreign visitors also became victim of the tsunami disaster. It was a sudden major disaster to the resorts. This is serious issue to mitigate the tsunami damage in the coastal area because the most of visitors have large variety on the nation, knowledge, and response for natural disaster. The countermeasure at a tourist area is urgent issue even in Japan, Hawaii et al...

Through reviewing the lessons and new type of tsunami disasters in the 2004 tsunami and recent events, not only structure and but also non-structure measure including the green barrier on the coast should be discussed to be implemented and combined for long term mitigation in the future.

Document: PDF, 5.83MB

TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

Tohoku University was founded at Sendai in 1907 as Tohoku Imperial University. It was the third Imperial University in Japan, and comprised the College of Agriculture and College of Science.
Since its foundation. the university has been very progressive and given stimulus to the society. To give a few examples, it was the first Imperial University to admit applicants who had not finished regular preparatory courses; that is. it accepted graduates from Medicine and Technical Colleges (Kōtō Senmon Gakko) and holders of ａ certificate for secondary school teachers. It was also the first Japanese university to introduce coeducation. It presented university extension lecture to the public ahead of its time. And it conferred degrees to foreign graduates as far back as 1911, which means that Tohoku University opened its doors to foreign students even earlier than University of Tokyo, the oldest University in Japan.

TOHOKU UNIVERSITY WEB SITE

Global 30

"Global 30" is a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)'s project to further promote internatinalization of core Japanese higher education institutions and to turn them into world-class international eduation and research centers. Tohoku University is one of the selected institutions for Global 30 and it launches the Future Global Leadership at Tohoku University (FGL) in Fall 2009.

Details of global 30. TOHOKU UNIVERSITY Guide for International Students (PDF : 7.43MB)