Mon. May 25, 2015 9:00 AM - 10:45 AM 203 (2F)

Convener:*ELENA PETROVA(Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography), Hajime Matsushima(Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University), Chair:Hajime Matsushima(Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University)

The last decade set a sad record in the number and scale of natural disasters and clearly demonstrated high vulnerability of human society and technosphere to their impacts. The most serious consequences have the so-called natural-technological disasters that have place when natural hazards trigger accidents at technological objects such as nuclear power plants, chemical plants, oil refineries and pipelines, etc. One of the most large-scaled natural-technological disasters occurred on March 11, 2011 in Japan as a result of a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the northeast coast of Honshu Island that caused a more than 30-meter tsunami. A distinctive feature of natural-technological events, such as of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, is their multihazard and synergistic nature with a disaster impact on the technosphere, resulting in simultaneous occurrences of numerous technological accidents. It is very difficult to deal with the consequences of such natural-technological accidents and disasters, because one has to cope not only with the primary aftermaths of the natural disaster itself, but also with the secondary effects of a number of technological accidents, which can be much more serious. These consequences are the more severe the higher are the population density and concentration of industrial facilities and infrastructure (especially hazardous and vulnerable objects) in disaster-affected areas. The main goal of this multidisciplinary session is to summarize case studies of relationships between natural hazards and technological disasters, their social and economic consequences; and to encourage a discussion about tools and methods to prevent disasters and to minimize their consequences.