Page 225 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 3

STS541 Masao T. et al.

Responses of the Statistics Bureau of Japan to
natural disasters
2
3
1
Masao Takahashi* ; Shigeru Kawasaki ; Hideo Umezawa
1 National Statistics Center, Tokyo, Japan
2 Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan
3 Statistics Bureau, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract
Natural disasters can occur anywhere in the world. Of course, it is important
to prevent such disasters, if possible, or to take proactive measures for
mitigating the effects of natural disasters. However, once such a disaster has
occurred, the responses for recovery and restoration are the key issues to be
considered. This is also applicable to the activities in official statistics. In Japan,
we have been experiencing a number of natural disasters every year. In this
paper, we present how we responded to natural disasters such as the Great
East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The paper includes basic approaches and
concepts in the responses to natural disasters, measures for continuation of
regular statistical dissemination, provision of statistical information for rescue
and restoration, statistical analyses on the effects of the disaster, and lessons
learned from the experiences.

Keywords
Great East Japan Earthquake; Statistical Information for Rescue and
Restoration; Statistical Analyses on the Effects of Disasters; Lessons Learned

1. Introduction
In the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred in March 2011, the
total death toll amounted to 15,897, and 2,533 people are still missing
(National Police Agency (2019)). It also destroyed more than 400,000 houses
and buildings, and many people have been evacuated due to an accident at a
nuclear power plant caused by the earthquake.
While the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake is still continuing,
Japan has been suffering from other large natural disasters such as torrential
rains (e.g., in the west part of Japan in 2014, in the Kanto and Tohoku areas in
2015 and in the west part of Japan in 2018) and earthquakes (e.g., in
Kumamoto in 2016 and in Hokkaido in 2018) almost every year, and they have
taken a large number of lives and forced many people to leave their homes
due to damage to houses and utilities.
Efforts to prevent such natural disasters are of course necessary, but once
a natural disaster occurs, it is important to respond to it for recovery and
restoration. This is also true for the roles of official statistics.

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