Environmental Engineering Reference
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communities in their response to these adversities. Instead of fi ndings, the results of
this research, presented below, can be understood as a series of reminders regarding
what we can learn from the past, what we can be proud of in the present and what
we can work toward in the future to ensure the resilience of our communities.
1. A society is responsible for its own calamities. It is we who decide to build our
cities in safe or risky areas. It is our construction standards and methods that can
protect or condemn us in the case of an earthquake. It is our attitude that will
leave us either prepared or panicked in an emergency. It is we who should care
about living in harmony with nature.
2. Today, societies and environments are both more extended and more populous
and therefore depend upon complex systems and technology, the disruption of
which can result in a feedback loop of multiple disasters. Whereas in the past, an
earthquake might have triggered urban fi res at most, it is now possible for chemi-
cal accidents, industrial fi res, nuclear accidents, oil spills, water contamination
and other secondary disasters to materialize all at once. The 2011 Great East
Japan Earthquake provided a recent example on this effect. We should prepare
for such complex scenarios using appropriate technology.
3. Despite the possibility of multiple disasters, it is interesting to note that the
urgent post-disaster needs of historical communities remain the basis of present-
day rapid responses. Our contemporary contingency and operational plans mir-
ror many of the actions taken by the Viceroy and the population at large in 1746
Peru: search and rescue; the disposal of dead bodies; the restoration of basic
services; and measures to prevent epidemics, food panics (Gomez 2013 ) and
looting (American Red Cross Multidisciplinary Team 2011 ).
4. A lesson from both the past and the present is that science and faith must both be
brought to bear in acknowledging the source of disasters in the disharmony
between human communities and nature and therefore to encourage a more pro-
active social attitude toward nature.
Acknowledgments This study was carried out under the framework of the SATREPS project
“Enhancement of Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Technology in Peru,” sponsored by
the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency
(JST). Our appreciation goes to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
(MEXT); Tohoku University; and the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS)
for their support.
References
Adriano B, Mas E, Koshimura S, Fujii Y, Yauri S, Jimenez C, Yanagisawa H (2013) Tsunami inun-
dation mapping in Lima, for two tsunami source scenarios. J Disaster Res 8(2):274-284
American Red Cross Multidisciplinary Team (2011) Report on the 2010 Chilean earthquake and
tsunami response. Technical report, U.S. Geological Survey
Arrus D (1904) El Callao en la epoca del Coloniaje antes y despues de la catastrofe de 1746.
Harvard University Library
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