FACTORS AFFECTING SURVIVAL IN TSUNAMI EVACUATION

During disasters, every second can be decisive but most people are unable to think clearly, and their decision-making is often illogical and irrational, or at best sub-optimal. In Japan, after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and tsunami in 2011, survival was largely determined by timely evacuation. Evacuation procedures are highly developed in Japan and people are drilled in evacuation from childhood. This paper reports recent research at Kyoto University to document evacuation after the 2011 event and to understand evacuation behaviour and their level of preparedness. One of the aspects studied is the difference between what people say they will do in a disaster and what they actually do in a real event. For example, in Japan many respondents said that they would run to a safe place, but in fact many people went home, often into danger, to seek and care for family members (Murakami and Umezu, 2011)