Introduction
The story that comes to my mind is, naturally, the things we are facing right now: the earthquake, tsunami and their consequences, including but not limited to the nuclear power station failure. This report tracks the role of the internet and other communications services during the disaster.
Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power station damage
On 11 March 2011 at 14:46 p.m., an unprecedented earthquake hit the eastern half of Japan. In less than ten minutes, the first waves of a tsunami arrived on a scale that no one in Japan ever dreamed of. The magnitude of the earthquake was first said to be 8.4 and then changed into 9.0 on the Richter scale, the largest in the recorded history of Japan and the fourth highest in the world.
The maximum reach of the tsunami was more than 40 metres above sea level – at least three to four times higher than most experts had anticipated. Successive waves of seawater washed away almost everything within one to six kilometres from the coastline, affecting over 30 cities and towns in six prefectures, spanning more than 500 kilometres along the coastline. As of 5 August, the death toll had reached 16,050-plus, and the number of missing more than 7,780. A total of more than 23,800 people were killed in the end, the highest loss from any disaster since World War II in Japan.
The tsunami also hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station and destroyed the regular and emergency cooling systems. On 12 and 13 March, explosions occurred at three of the four units due to the high temperature of the reactor’s core, and a huge amount of nuclear contaminants were released into the air. More than 200,000 citizens inside a 30-kilometre radius from the nuclear station evacuated with bare minimum belongings, hoping to return within a few days. They were still in shelters and temporary houses or staying with friends and relatives after four months.
Preparation was less than needed
Japan is well known as the land of natural disasters, not only for earthquakes and tsunamis, but also typhoons, landslides and volcanic eruptions. All these happen frequently in any part of the archipelago. The central and local governments have disaster management divisions, armed with heavy equipment and conducting regular exercises. We thought we were prepared. Unfortunately, that was not the case this time.
To be fair, almost no one expected that an earthquake of this scale and magnitude would occur. There were predictions and warnings of a large earthquake within the next 30 years, but most expected less than 8.0 on the Richter scale. The Kobe earthquake in 1995, which killed more than 6,400 citizens, had a magnitude of 7.3. Simply put, the preparation was far less than needed.
The role of the internet and ICTs for disaster relief
Information plays a critical role in organising rescue, relief and reconstruction work for all social disasters. The so-called Great East Japan Earthquake was no exception. Yet the very information badly needed by the citizens in devastated areas was not available in the aftermath.
It is perhaps one of the first massive disasters that hit a well-developed country equipped with broadband and 3G mobile networks and other information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and services. Many citizens were using the internet and smartphones in addition to the conventional mass media such as TV and radio broadcasting to find information or call for rescue. However, most telephone lines where inaccessible. Given the massive call demand from people immediately after the quake, telephone operators blocked 90% of calls in the most devastated areas – a standard practice to ensure that critical connections, such as those used by emergency services, could be made. However, this also meant that many citizens could not talk to their families and friends for hours, and even days in some areas.
In coastal areas, the tsunami waves destroyed most physical infrastructure – roads and railways, telephone and power lines and radio towers. These areas became “information black holes” and that continued for a week to a month or even longer.
The government rescue team had 1,500 radio and satellite mobile phones and other communication devices. But these did not meet the demand for communication, and many could not be delivered to local governments, whose city halls and buildings had been severely damaged or lost. Many people tried to use Twitter, email via mobile phones, social networks such as Facebook or Mixi (a popular service in Japan) to ask to be rescued, for food, medicines or blankets – and some of these messages reached people outside the affected areas who managed to provide the relief needed in time.
Yet the actual usage of internet and ICTs in the devastated areas was very low. The reconstruction work on communications infrastructure started immediately after the disaster, but the sheer amount of damage placed a heavy burden on the infrastructure providers. The pace of reconstruction was slow compared to the massive demand. There had been little policy coordination framework among ICT players for disaster management despite Japan’s frequent exposure to natural disasters.
Many actors started voluntary information-sharing services through the internet. Using Google, Yahoo and Mixi, lists of shelters and missing people, services that matched demand, and data on roads that were passable were set up. Teams went to the affected sites and started to help set up access facilities in shelters or local government offices and schools. Most of this work was ad hoc.
A number of concerned ICT professionals started a voluntary and pro bono information support platform called iSPP, drawing on industry, government and civil society. This multi-stakeholder platform coordinated and complemented official relief work. We asked ourselves, “What can the internet and ICTs do for the victims there?” It was late, but we thought it was never too late.
In early April, a number of iSPP members organised a site visit to three prefectures to find out what kind of information and services were really in need. We spoke with local citizens, government officials and ICT professionals who were all seriously affected by the disaster.
The stories we heard were horrible, to put it lightly, especially in coastal cities. When we arrived there, we lost our voices. We just could not imagine what to say. Then, one finds oneself challenged. You must say something. You must act.
After the visits, we identified several areas to organise projects around:
Provide ICT solutions to recovery works – computers, communication devices and people.
Build common application programming interfaces (APIs) for informational support.
Facilitate information matching for relief work (goods and people).
Coordinate NGOs.
Support local government – coordinate with prefectural and central governments to restore their ICT services for victims and citizens.
Conduct a survey of people’s informational behaviour (how they use and disseminate information).
To be frank, it was not easy to organise all of this work with limited resources. However, iSPP managed to develop some of the projects.