Japan Strives to Improve Overall Capacity for Earthquake Prevention and Disaster Relief

Japan is an earthquake-prone country. In the face of the harsh environment, Japan has made continuous efforts to improve the overall capacity of earthquake prevention and disaster relief, and tried to minimize the losses caused by earthquakes with adequate preparation and appropriate measures.

Japan has a wide range of geological movement monitoring and many monitoring points. The Japan Meteorological Agency and the Fire Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications have set up at least one seismograph in every city, town and village in the country (all belong to the second-level administrative regions of Japan, and the prefectures are the first-level administrative regions). In addition, the Institute of Disaster Prevention Science has set up 1800 high-sensitivity seismographs, 70 broadband seismographs and about 1000 strong seismographs throughout the country. High-sensitivity seismographs monitor the internal movement of the crust in a three-dimensional way by capturing micro-earthquakes that people can not feel, while broadband seismographs mainly monitor the earth tide with ultra-long period. These widely distributed earthquake monitoring instruments provide a lot of information for Japanese scientists to study earthquakes.

Although the current level of science and technology can not accurately predict earthquakes, after years of intensive research and continuous improvement, Japan's earthquake early warning system has been able to monitor the source and magnitude of earthquakes several seconds to tens of seconds before the arrival of destructive transverse waves by using the time difference between longitudinal waves and transverse waves after earthquakes. And alert agencies and residents. In Japan's last major earthquake, the July 2007 earthquake off the coast of China and Vietnam in Niigata Prefecture, the system achieved initial success. Railway and construction departments that received earthquake warnings urgently suspended trains and suspended crane operations to avoid greater losses; local authorities also promptly broadcast to residents within their jurisdiction.

Japanese laws have very strict requirements on the safety of buildings in terms of earthquake resistance and fire prevention. The Building Standards Law stipulates that new buildings must have the seismic strength that will not collapse in a once-in-a-century earthquake and will not be damaged in a once-in-a-decade earthquake.

In Japan, a building seismic report must be submitted before a construction project can be approved. The main content of this report is to calculate the stress of different building structures in the earthquake according to the different intensity of the earthquake, and then to determine the location of beams and columns, load-bearing, and the specifications and proportions of steel and concrete in the construction. The law also stipulates that only people with first-class architects and higher qualifications can prepare seismic reports. The seismic report of the building must be checked by the relevant departments and confirmed to be correct before the project can be started.

Once an earthquake occurs, the Japanese government, industry organizations and non-governmental organizations can act quickly and devote themselves to rescue and disaster relief. On the day of the earthquake, 490 members of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, 190 rescue vehicles, 9 ships and 23 aircraft supported the disaster area. The Japan Gas Association has also taken urgent action to send professional and technical personnel to support the disaster areas, provide emergency equipment to the disaster areas and repair damaged gas facilities.

The Basic Law on Disaster Countermeasures and the Law on Special Measures for Earthquake Disaster Prevention, which were revised after the Kobe earthquake in 1995, have strengthened Japan's disaster prevention system and the disaster prevention system of local public organizations. Municipalities and villages can report the disaster directly to the Prime Minister of the Cabinet without going through the prefectures, and the mayors of municipalities and towns can request the prefectural governors to apply to their superiors for the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces.

In addition to the disaster prevention and relief system at the national level, non-governmental organizations and volunteers in Japan also played an important role after the earthquake. In 1995, the Richter scale of 7. After the magnitude 3 earthquake, non-governmental organizations and volunteers played an active role in blood donation, fund-raising, serving the victims and providing materials, which made the whole society have a leap in understanding the importance of volunteer activities. Therefore, 1995 is also known as the "first year of volunteers" in Japan.

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