To consider various issues resulting from the 3.11 disasters, we must understand
the continuing damages, social-structural issues behind the 3.11, and the complex
effects of triple disasters. In addition, how “realities” of damaged sites were
overlooked in the society is another important point. This is rephrased to, “how
were social attentions deprived?” In response to this question, we conducted
quantitative media analysis between national and local newspapers: Asahi-shimbun
and Kahoku-shimpo.
1.1 Basic Description of the 3.11 Disasters
The aim of this section is to share basic descriptions of the 3.11 triple disasters. For
this purpose, we would like to use a description-oriented method. Through
descriptions of damaged sites, we will know the complexity of damages brought by
the earthquake, tsunami, and the NPP accident.
For the horrible triple disasters, there were over 20,000 deaths and missing
persons. Approximately 170,000 people evacuated from their homes in Japan.
Three prefectures in particular—Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima—were the most
affected (for example, deaths in the Miyagi prefecture reached over 10,000). We
summarize the number of victims, focusing on these three prefectures, in Table 1.
1
The tsunami wiped out several hundred kilometers of coastline in towns.
Concerning causes of death, drowning was responsible for over 90% of lost victims, and about 65% of the victims were over the age of 60 [3].
Looking at the press release by the national government on June 24, 2011, it was
estimated that total losses for the building, life-line, social infrastructure, agriculture, and others reached approximately 16.9 trillion yen. Over 25 million tons of
rubble and general waste were generated. Of course, there continues to be other
serious problems, such as the stress of disaster victims, discrimination, etc.
In addition, the social conditions were different between damaged areas.
Previous studies showed that local towns that were seriously injured were considered to be an aging society, farming and fisheries society, and generally poorer
than when compared to metropolitan society [1, 2]. And of course, such negative
conditions compound upon each other. Generally speaking, the municipalities that
were seriously injured faced deeply-indented coastlines; this geographical disadvantage is not only vulnerable to tsunamis but also reinforced aging and economically vulnerable society. Furthermore, these vulnerabilities (such as an aging
1
Previous data of the Table 1 were represented in Shineha [1] and Tanaka et al. [2]. This data is
updated, using statistics published by governments until May 8th 2015: Prefectural governments
of Miyagi, Iwate, Fukushima, and the Reconstruction Agency. Concerning the death toll, the
associated number of deaths from the 3.11 was included. In addition, the number of the disappeared is the number of those who never received death notifications of their family members.
There are 224 persons who were registered in this type of situation.
112
R. Shineha and M. Tanaka
the continuing damages, social-structural issues behind the 3.11, and the complex
effects of triple disasters. In addition, how “realities” of damaged sites were
overlooked in the society is another important point. This is rephrased to, “how
were social attentions deprived?” In response to this question, we conducted
quantitative media analysis between national and local newspapers: Asahi-shimbun
and Kahoku-shimpo.
1.1 Basic Description of the 3.11 Disasters
The aim of this section is to share basic descriptions of the 3.11 triple disasters. For
this purpose, we would like to use a description-oriented method. Through
descriptions of damaged sites, we will know the complexity of damages brought by
the earthquake, tsunami, and the NPP accident.
For the horrible triple disasters, there were over 20,000 deaths and missing
persons. Approximately 170,000 people evacuated from their homes in Japan.
Three prefectures in particular—Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima—were the most
affected (for example, deaths in the Miyagi prefecture reached over 10,000). We
summarize the number of victims, focusing on these three prefectures, in Table 1.
1
The tsunami wiped out several hundred kilometers of coastline in towns.
Concerning causes of death, drowning was responsible for over 90% of lost victims, and about 65% of the victims were over the age of 60 [3].
Looking at the press release by the national government on June 24, 2011, it was
estimated that total losses for the building, life-line, social infrastructure, agriculture, and others reached approximately 16.9 trillion yen. Over 25 million tons of
rubble and general waste were generated. Of course, there continues to be other
serious problems, such as the stress of disaster victims, discrimination, etc.
In addition, the social conditions were different between damaged areas.
Previous studies showed that local towns that were seriously injured were considered to be an aging society, farming and fisheries society, and generally poorer
than when compared to metropolitan society [1, 2]. And of course, such negative
conditions compound upon each other. Generally speaking, the municipalities that
were seriously injured faced deeply-indented coastlines; this geographical disadvantage is not only vulnerable to tsunamis but also reinforced aging and economically vulnerable society. Furthermore, these vulnerabilities (such as an aging
1
Previous data of the Table 1 were represented in Shineha [1] and Tanaka et al. [2]. This data is
updated, using statistics published by governments until May 8th 2015: Prefectural governments
of Miyagi, Iwate, Fukushima, and the Reconstruction Agency. Concerning the death toll, the
associated number of deaths from the 3.11 was included. In addition, the number of the disappeared is the number of those who never received death notifications of their family members.
There are 224 persons who were registered in this type of situation.
112
R. Shineha and M. Tanaka