PRESS CONFERENCE
When the Big One Comes
Shinichi Kuriyama, Director of International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University
15:00-16:00 Monday, September 2, 2024
Language: The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation.
In August, Japan's Meteorological Agency issued its first "mega-quake warning" for the Nankai Trough, after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Kyushu. Japan, no stranger to seismic activity and disasters, is arguably the best prepared and most experienced nation in the world for plate tectonic activity. Nonetheless, recent earthquakes and tsunami have caused casualties and damage that Japan is still trying years later to recover from.
In 2013, a government disaster prevention team said a magnitude 9.1 Nankai Trough quake could generate a tsunami exceeding 10 meters within minutes, killing as many as 323,000 people, leveling more than 2 million buildings, and causing damage exceeding 220 trillion yen on Japan's Pacific coast.
September 2, meanwhile, is the anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake, which101 years ago created a tsunami that swept away thousands, and sparked fires in Yokohama and Tokyo that left about 140,000 dead. More recently, in March 2011 in Tohoku, three prefectures—Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima—were decimated by a massive tsunami after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake. That tragedy, and its subsequent nuclear disaster, left at least 15,900 people dead and 2,520 missing, left thousands homeless to this day, while deaths from indirect causes exceeded 3,800 by the end of December 2023, according to Reconstruction Agency.
To discuss what Japan has learned from its seismic past as well as its future preparations for the Big One, the FCCJ will host Shinichi Kuriyama, Director of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) at Tohoku University. IRIDes, located near the epicenter of the 2011 earthquake, had been calling for precautions against a possible quake off Miyagi Prefecture when the temblor hit.
Dr. Kuriyama, who focuses on public health related to disasters using epidemiological methods, will offer insights into his team's thinking on how disasters have impacted Japan, how Japan and its survivors have coped with past disasters, and what next steps to take if and when the Big One hits. Please join us for what we hope will be an uneventful but informative session.
How to attend:
Please register at front@fccj.or.jp with your name, the name of your media outlet, and FCCJ membership number. Due to space restrictions attendance will be limited. Doors open 15 minutes before the event. Please sign in and giving your name and contact details at the reception.
How to watch online: https://www.youtube.com/c/FCCJchannel/live
How to ask questions: https://forms.gle/5X78Qqj6Dfa8a2jn6
TV crew: Please make a reservation at front@fccj.or.jp. Doors open for TV crews only at 30 minutes before the event.
Professional Activities Committee