Protection of Cultural Heritage from Post-Earthquake Fire

Abstract

The cultural property protection field is wide and varied, with the problem of natural disaster alone often being overlooked, especially in seismic hazard measures. Cultural property preservation field experts recognize that fire-prevention measures, for example, having focused on accidental fires and arson within shrine and temple precincts that have been ineffective in preventing fires from spreading to historical buildings during simultaneous fire outbreaks in surroundings of concern during earthquakes. In 2003, the Japanese government recognized the importance of cultural heritage disaster mitigation, and a National Committee was organized whose first report was released in 2004, leading, in turn, to the first national project for protecting cultural assets against natural disasters. The project focused on two 1,500-ton underground water storage tanks near Kiyomizudera and Sanneizaka. With a pressurized water sprinkler system and other fire control facilities, the facility is expected to be used to fight fires during earthquakes and to provide easy-to-use fire hydrants for other fires.

Managing climate change risk: the case of the Italian Churches

“…In any case, as stated before, the majority of papers in this field deal with the management strategy of a specific risk event. Some works present an analysis of the impact of earthquakes (Ravankhah et al 2017;Sugio 2015;Toki 2011). Some others focus on another important threat: fire (Ferreira et al 2016;Marrion 2016).…”

“…The definition of the value can represent a big problem in relation to objects of high value, as the churches in our case. Assessing an economic value to cultural heritage may require a complex estimate, with a particular focus on the measurement of "the value of the flow of services yielded by the cultural good and to estimate its value as an item of cultural capital stock" (Throsby and Zednik 2014). A specific estimation may require much time, and this could make insurance contracts difficult to be formulated.…”

Editorial for the special issue on “securing future of heritage by reducing risks and building resilience”

“…International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) launched a massive operation to salvage heritage (Hamburg, 2018). Another landmark event was 1995 Kobe earthquake, when wooden heritage was lost due to post earthquake fires (Toki et al, 2004). In spite of these large events, the fields of cultural heritage conservation and disaster risk management had virtually no connection, and there was no comprehensive effort to reduce disaster risks to cultural heritage until the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2005 to commemorate the 10 th anniversary of Kobe earthquake.…”

Resilient cultural heritage: from global to national levels – the case of Bhutan

“…Among the lessons highlighted by the TDD participants, some examples from the city of Kyoto provided excellent insights about how to apply different DRM practices to cultural heritage sites (see Jigyasu and Arora, 2013; Toki and Okubo, 2005; Fukagawa, 2010). For instance, after Kiyomizu-dera Temple was rebuilt multiple times after fires, the owners installed different disaster-prevention devices to protect the buildings while keeping the integrity and aesthetic values of the site.…”