The Purpose of the Statistical Database on the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

The Statistical Database on the Great East Japan Earthquake (SDJE) has been developed as an information resource to assist in research and preparations for future disasters in Japan and other countries. The SDJE was initiated in January 2016 by the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) of Tohoku University. As a university in the affected area of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE), Tohoku University acknowledges with gratitude the participation in GEJE relief and recovery activities of organizations and people from elsewhere in the country and abroad, and in response has undertaken a number of initiatives to provide scientific information and the lessons from the GEJE. For example, IRIDeS hosts and acts as the secretariat of the Global Centre for Disaster Statistics and has now developed this new database. The SDJE provides comprehensive data on the GEJE in both English and Japanese, drawing widely on data originally provided by the national and local governments and private organizations, including considerable contents taken from the white papers of Japan’s Cabinet Office and other national ministries. The data coverage extends from the time of the GEJE to currently produced materials. In addition, a “Link Collection” of Japanese statistics related to disasters is provided to support statistical analysis of the social and economic effect of the GEJE, for example through correlation analysis, and to assist researchers to better understand the context of the disaster and the disaster statistics. It is hoped that many people worldwide will find the content of the database useful for disaster risk reduction activities.