Lessons from March 11 quake smooth response to aftershock

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Despite shattered nerves and high stress in disaster-hit areas of northeastern Japan, the response to Thursday's huge aftershock was an encouraging sign that lessons have been learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake.

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Lessons from March 11 quake smooth response to aftershock
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Despite shattered nerves and high stress in disaster-hit areas of northeastern Japan, the response to Thursday's huge aftershock was an encouraging sign that lessons have been learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake.

A tsunami warning was issued after the magnitude-7.1 aftershock rocked the coast. But before the tsunami warning was eventually lifted, there was little evidence of the panic, confusion and complacency that increased the suffering after the magnitude-9.0 quake struck on March 11.

"This time, I quickly acted to flee, expecting a tsunami would follow," said Kazuyuki Endo, 77, a resident of Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture. Endo and his sister's family arrived at a temple on a higher ground by car within 15 minutes of the aftershock.

After the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, Endo needed more than 20 minutes just to start following his neighbors to higher ground, and he did not bring any belongings. By then, the tsunami was quickly approaching. Endo's life was spared after he climbed a utility pole to escape the water.

Following Thursday's aftershock, he remembered to bring blankets and a flashlight to his car.

Others were also well-prepared to leave in the event of another big earthquake.

A 66-year-old resident in the town of Yamada, Iwate Prefecture, said that after the March 11 quake, she started sleeping on the first floor instead of the second floor so that she could make a hasty retreat.

When the tsunami warning was issued Thursday, she could quickly leave her house because her bed was in the living room next to the entrance.

A 50-year-old representative of an evacuation center in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, recalled the March 11 tsunami swallowing up cars on a congested road leading to a school on a hill.

"We immediately appointed people in charge of directing traffic," he said about the operations Thursday. People at the evacuation center directed cars to the end of a parking lot, even though many people opted to walk.

Even small things made a difference. After the March 11 quake, a 31-year-old construction worker in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, bought flashlights for every member of his family.

Municipalities also learned lessons from the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami.

The city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, obtained about 70 satellite phones for use in branch offices and evacuation centers. The city previously had only one satellite phone.

After Thursday's quake, the phones were used to spread the tsunami warning and speed communications for such critical information as, "All evacuation centers are located on higher ground."

A city official said proper communication channels were lacking on March 11.

Although the city office tried to contact branch offices using the community wireless system, officials had to call each branch one by one, which took a long time, the official recalled.

Several satellite phones were available in the city office during the aftershock, enabling officials to quickly contact branch offices and evacuation centers.

"Satellite phones are resistant to earthquakes and blackouts," an official in charge of disaster prevention said.

Saka General Hospital in Shiogawa, Miyagi Prefecture, made sure there was no repeat of the confusion following the March 11 disaster, when 30 patients showed up and hospital staff struggled to find rooms where electricity was available.

After the quake, the hospital checked all the rooms and assigned roles for staff members, including doctors, for emergencies.

"All the doctors who showed up had their own roles, and everything went smoothly," said Takashi Naito, deputy director of the hospital, on the hospital's reaction to the aftershock.

But not everyone kept their cool.

Michiko Sugawara, 60, who lives in a mountainous area of Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, said she thought she was ready for any aftershock.

"But I got so panicky after the earthquake and was not able to use anything I had prepared," she said.

Sugawara said she had put a flashlight, radio and a bottle of water by her bed on the second floor. However, those items were all left behind when she fled from her home Thursday.

"I could not make a rational judgment," she said.

Following the aftershock, Remon Takahashi, 15, had to calm down her mother who tried to flee in a car.

"Let's run, it would be faster," she told her mother.

Remon, her mother and her younger sister and brother ended up running to a school that served as an evacuation center.

"We were all desperate after barely surviving the March 11 earthquake," the girl said.

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