2:15 PM - 2:30 PM
[O10-02] Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion and the National Seismic Hazard Maps for Japan
★Invited Papers
Keywords:The 1995 Southern Hyogo Prefecture Earthquake, The Great Hansin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster, Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, National Seismic Hazard Maps, Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Map, Source Fault Specified Seismic Hazard Map
The “1995 Southern Hyogo Prefecture Earthquake” (hereinafter referred to as the “Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake”) occurred at around 5:46 am on Friday, January 17, 1995, and caused a major disaster that resulted in the total destruction of more than 100,000 buildings and the loss of 6,434 lives (the Cabinet orally agreed to call the disaster the “Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster” on February 14, 1995). This great disaster triggered the establishment of the “Act on Special Measures for Earthquake Disaster Countermeasures” in June 1995 by a Diet member's bill and came into effect on July 18 of the same year, which sets goals for the implementation of earthquake disaster prevention measures, the preparation of a five-year plan for emergency earthquake disaster prevention projects, and special national financial measures for projects based on this plan, in order to protect the lives, bodies, and property of the people from earthquake disasters. Based on this law, the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion (hereinafter referred to as “HERP”) was established in the Prime Minister's Office (at the time, now Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). Until the Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake, the government had focused its earthquake research on earthquake prediction, particularly the prediction of the Tokai Earthquake, and had not emphasized research on the ground motion that occurs when an earthquake occurs, the resulting damage to structures, and countermeasures against such damage. With the establishment of HERP, the Headquarters for Earthquake Prediction Research Promotion, which was established by the Cabinet in October 1976 at the Science and Technology Agency (at the time), fearing the occurrence of a Tokai earthquake, was abolished on July 17, 1995.
Based on the experience of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster, HERP was established with an awareness that the results of research on earthquakes were not sufficiently communicated and used by the public and agencies in charge of disaster prevention, to clarify the responsible authority for research on earthquakes that should be directly linked to administrative measures, and for the government to promote this research in an integrated way. One of the roles of HERP is “Planning of comprehensive and basic policies” which determines the basic policy for earthquake survey and research of the government and in April 1999, “Promotion of Earthquake Research and Survey - Comprehensive and Basic Policies for Promotion of Observation, Survey, Research and Study on Earthquakes” (hereinafter referred to as “Phase I Comprehensive Basic Policies”), which outlines the basic policies of the government-wide earthquake survey and research was formulated. Since then, the policies have been revised every 10 years, taking into account changes in the environment and progress in seismic survey and research. In the Phase 1 Comprehensive Basic Policies, one of the major tasks of seismic research to be promoted for the time being was the creation of a nationwide seismic hazard map. Therefore, as a result of a series of activities by the Earthquake Research Committee of HERP, the “Seismic Hazard Maps Overviewing the Nation of Japan” (hereinafter referred to as the “Seismic Hazard Maps”) was published in March 2005. Subsequently, to upgrade the Seismic Hazard Maps, the ground motion estimation methods and the subsurface structure model were improved, and the “National Seismic Hazard Maps” was published in July 2009. The National Seismic Hazard Maps consists of a “Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Map” and a “Source Fault Specified Seismic Hazard Map (Scenario Seismic Hazard Map)”. The Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Map shows the distribution of the probability of ground motion of each point based on the location, magnitude, and probability of all earthquakes that could be considered at the time of creation. The Scenario Seismic Hazard Map shows the distribution of the calculated ground motion for each location in an event of a particular earthquake. It is expected that the National Seismic Hazard Maps will be used as a basic reference material for raising public awareness of disaster prevention and for studying effective earthquake disaster prevention measures.
Based on the experience of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster, HERP was established with an awareness that the results of research on earthquakes were not sufficiently communicated and used by the public and agencies in charge of disaster prevention, to clarify the responsible authority for research on earthquakes that should be directly linked to administrative measures, and for the government to promote this research in an integrated way. One of the roles of HERP is “Planning of comprehensive and basic policies” which determines the basic policy for earthquake survey and research of the government and in April 1999, “Promotion of Earthquake Research and Survey - Comprehensive and Basic Policies for Promotion of Observation, Survey, Research and Study on Earthquakes” (hereinafter referred to as “Phase I Comprehensive Basic Policies”), which outlines the basic policies of the government-wide earthquake survey and research was formulated. Since then, the policies have been revised every 10 years, taking into account changes in the environment and progress in seismic survey and research. In the Phase 1 Comprehensive Basic Policies, one of the major tasks of seismic research to be promoted for the time being was the creation of a nationwide seismic hazard map. Therefore, as a result of a series of activities by the Earthquake Research Committee of HERP, the “Seismic Hazard Maps Overviewing the Nation of Japan” (hereinafter referred to as the “Seismic Hazard Maps”) was published in March 2005. Subsequently, to upgrade the Seismic Hazard Maps, the ground motion estimation methods and the subsurface structure model were improved, and the “National Seismic Hazard Maps” was published in July 2009. The National Seismic Hazard Maps consists of a “Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Map” and a “Source Fault Specified Seismic Hazard Map (Scenario Seismic Hazard Map)”. The Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Map shows the distribution of the probability of ground motion of each point based on the location, magnitude, and probability of all earthquakes that could be considered at the time of creation. The Scenario Seismic Hazard Map shows the distribution of the calculated ground motion for each location in an event of a particular earthquake. It is expected that the National Seismic Hazard Maps will be used as a basic reference material for raising public awareness of disaster prevention and for studying effective earthquake disaster prevention measures.