Tsunami awareness

Tsunami awareness: a comparative assessment between Japan and the USA

Esteban, Miguel (Waseda University)
Bricker, J.D. (TU Delft Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk)
San Carlos Arce, Ricardo (FORUS)
Takagi, Hiroshi (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Yun, Nam Yi (Institute for Research on Safety and Security of Greater Tokyo)
Chaiyapa, Warathida (Chiang Mai University)
Sjoegren, Alexander (University of Tokyo)
Shibayama, Tomoya (Waseda University)

2018

Awareness about the threats posed by different types of coastal disasters has increased throughout the world, as people are exposed to the nature of these hazards through media reports on events in distant countries. This has resulted in coastal residents being aware about the destructive power of tsunamis, despite no such events having taken place in their country in recent times. Regardless of this increased awareness, it has been hypothesized that there is still need for local governments to enact adequate policies to raise the awareness of local residents, for example, by holding regular evacuation drills. The present research presents a comparative assessment of tsunami awareness in two tourist destinations in Japan and the USA, which was derived through structured questionnaire surveys of beach users in the city of Kamakura and various coastal cities in Florida. The results show how despite relatively high level of awareness tsunamis still pose a considerable risk to each of the communities, for example, due to shortcoming in evacuation knowledge and infrastructure.

Awareness
Japan
Natural hazards
Tsunami
USA

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:18a3358e-e878-4807-b390-82dd23949118

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3365-1

2019-06-01

0921-030X

Natural Hazards, 93 (3), 1507–1528

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 Miguel Esteban, J.D. Bricker, Ricardo San Carlos Arce, Hiroshi Takagi, Nam Yi Yun, Warathida Chaiyapa, Alexander Sjoegren, Tomoya Shibayama