Japan deploys cutting-edge technology to mitigate natural hazards

Stretching more than 3,000 km, from tropical Okinawa in the far south to the tip of Hokkaido, these islands are home to more than 100 active volcanoes and hundreds more that are officially dormant. The nation also sits atop a series of interlocking tectonic plates that are in gradual motion, occasionally triggering massive earthquakes with devastating consequences.  

As an island nation, Japan must also constantly be alert to the dangers of tsunami triggered by offshore earthquakes and powerful typhoons that can sweep in from the Pacific, causing destruction and widespread flooding.  

Faced with these challenges, Japanese scientists are employing advanced technologies to predict looming threats and provide the public with advance warning of danger. And they are constantly looking for new innovations that can help to mitigate mother nature.  

Arguably the most serious challenge facing the nation, believes Professor Yasuhiro Suzuki, of Nagoya University’s Disaster Mitigation Research Center, would be a major earthquake in an area that has not experienced a significant tremor in a century or so and where the countermeasures are overwhelmed.

“We have less and less time available to implement disaster risk reduction measures before the next major event, while I am also concerned that our cities are becoming overcrowded,” he said. “The risks from disasters are increasing and I fear that hardware measures to date have not been effective.”

Prof Suzuki says it is critical that the public be given as much advance warning as possible of an impending disaster, which will rely on technological advances, but that Japanese society also undergoes a “paradigm shift” to be prepared for a worst-case scenario.

The lessons from past disasters have been taken to heart, Prof Suzuki said, pointing to the creation of detailed maps of active faults in the Earth’s crust. That predictive technology was developed after the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, in central Japan, and is today the best in the world, he said.

By 2016, fault mapping technology meant that 60 percent of residents of Kumamoto were aware of the possibility of a quake and were able to take precautions ahead of the magnitude-7 tremor that hit the prefecture on April 16, he said.

Japanese scientists have been sharing their knowledge with other nations at risk of earthquakes around the world. In recent years, Prof Suzuki has himself carried out research alongside local experts in Turkey, China, Taiwan and Mongolia helping local residents to similarly prepare for a possible disaster. 

Immediately after the 1995 earthquake that caused widespread damage in Kobe, the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) created four nationwide land observation networks to improve monitoring and assessments of earthquakes, as well as estimating the likely impact of any tremors.

Another network was added to the seabed off the east coast of Japan for the early detection of quakes and tsunami originating in the Pacific, linking up with another network off central Japan. Together, the networks are known as Monitoring of Waves on Land and Seafloor (MOWLAS).

The networks use a range of seismometers that measure ground motion caused by an earthquake or changes in a volcano, even when the tremor is very small. That data is immediately analyzed to determine the scale of the threat and provides the authorities with the information required to make rapid responses.  

Private-sector companies are also committed to delivering products and services that are better prepared to resist disasters, such as the swing mass damper (SMD) control device developed by leading construction firm Shimizu Corp.

The damper is designed to be installed on the roofs of ultra high-rise buildings to control complex, multi-directional shaking caused by a major earthquake. An improvement on conventional dampers, which are only able to match shaking in one direction, the equipment uses a steel or concrete counterweight supported by a frame fitted with two layers of laminated rubber bearings.

The dampers can be retro-fitted to older buildings, stabilizing the movement of taller structures and making them less prone to collapsing.

Information and communications technology giant Fujitsu Ltd has also perfected technology that has already been introduced overseas.  

The company’s Disaster Information Management System was previously adopted by the national and local governments across Japan, giving authorities instant access to data critical to a rapid and effective response to a natural disaster.  

That information includes early warnings and predictions of the scale of a disaster and areas that are most likely to be severely impacted. Receiving that information, authorities can build a better understanding of the most pressing needs and deploy assets optimally to save lives. 

Fujitsu delivered a tailored DIMS to Jakarta in 2013, giving the Indonesian capital an unprecedented ability to respond to looming disaster. The system soon proved its worth, coordinating responses to serious flooding in many parts of the city in January 2014. 

NHK, Japan’s public media organization, has an unbeatable reach across the nation for news and is expanding the information it makes available in the event of a disaster.

In May 2023, NHK started using artificial intelligence to read out English subtitles accompanying special news webcasts about disasters. The system is designed to operate when an earthquake with a seismic intensity of five or higher is detected, when a tsunami is imminent or if torrential rain is expected, or when the nationwide J-Alert is sounded. 

The impact of climate change on Japan has been marked in recent years, believes Rajib Shaw, a professor at Keio University’s Graduate School of Media and Governance, with the lessons learned here applicable in other countries with similar challenges.

“Japan has always experienced typhoons, but the intensity, severity and frequency of those weather systems is increasing,” he said. “In the past, Japan experienced maybe one category five typhoon every five years or so, but now we see them nearly every year.”

The impact of such disasters is also becoming more severe in a nation that is experiencing an aging population and fewer people living in rural areas, which makes them vulnerable, Prof Shaw said.

“Providing an early warning to these people is very important,” he said, adding that alerts for typhoons and earthquakes in Japan are often delivered by mobile phones.

Japan’s disaster-risk reduction technologies have helped countries around the world to strengthen their resilience, Prof Shaw said, pointing to a successful recent project that brought together government agencies and Japanese and Bangladeshi universities.

“Bangladesh is prone to river floods, flash flooding and coastal floods, while riverbank erosion is also a major challenge,” said Prof Shaw. “Using Japanese technologies, measures to control riverbank erosion were developed using local materials, such as bamboo, that can be replicated across the country.”

At the same time, an early warning system was developed to complement the cyclone alert network, giving advance notice of cyclones that coincide with dangerously high tide events. 

“This has helped coastal communities to make decisions on whether to evacuate to cyclone shelters or to stay nearby and has proved extremely effective in building disaster resilience,” the professor said. 

Japan is renowned as one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world and it comes as little surprise that so much effort has been invested into measures that will warn people of looming danger and give them the best chance of surviving.

As a good neighbour, it is equally unsurprising that Japan has been quick to share that knowhow and technology with other countries and government agencies and private firms remain committed to even more capable warning systems in the future.