A Magnitude 8.9 Earthquake Rocks Tōhoku, Tsunami Devastates Sendai, State of Emergency Declared in Japan
Case Studies Earthquake Field Reports Japan
This post is part of a series called The 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake
TOKYO, Japan–I was in the train near Ikebukuro station when the train suddenly stopped with a loud creaking noise at 2:55 pm today. Japan’s state-of-the-art earthquake system at work…. That’s what I thought at first. But it has been a struggle since. It is 1:30 am now and we are still not far from where the train stopped. Japan Railway actually closed down the stations and sent out all commuters into the cold night. They announced that they are concerned about structural safety. Continuous aftershocks make me feel…
Miyamoto in Haiti: The Well-Oiled Relief Machine Rolling Through Haiti
Earthquake Field Reports Haiti This post is part of a series called Miyamoto in Haiti
Today was a big day. It was the first full roll-out of the 150 Haitian engineers and 50 social workers for damage assessment. We arrived at the Public Works building at the 8 a.m. Limited availability of equipment and transportation had been the norm, but today was different. We had 20 vans ready and waiting for us. Currently we are at 60% capacity. This is limited by the lack of available vans. I’m hoping the van situation changes soon.
This is a public works project, funded by the World…
This post is part of a series called Miyamoto in Haiti
Today the Japanese Ambassador asked us to do a damage assessment on their eight-story embassy in Port au Prince. Dominic, our engineer, and I met the ambassador in front of the building. The Ambassador is a friendly international expat type. This is highly unusual for a Japanese bureaucrat He speaks perfect French but not English. He told me “I was living in Africa for my most of professional carrier. It was not easy but nothing prepared me for this disaster” He had a tall bodyguard with him, as well…
This post is part of a series called Miyamoto in Haiti
Haiti – January, 2010
Early this morning, we got a call from the World Bank officer. He requested us to investigate the National Palace. Our team is excited about this prospect. It is the most famous building in Port au Prince. It is an equivalent to the White House. And now it is infamous for the spectacular collapse. The front domes are collapsed and totally ruined.
As we driving through the disaster scenes of concrete piles and piled up garbage in the morning light, a New York Times and…
This post is part of a series called Miyamoto in Haiti
Haiti – January 20, 2010
At 2 am I wake up to the sound of a shot gun blast outside of the house I am staying in. Well, this is the first time in my life I have ever been woken up by the sound of gunshot. I slowly spy from the back yard window to investigate. It is strange and silent. No one is visible. So I decide to go back to sleep. As I fall asleep again, I begin thinking about the 4000 criminals who have escaped…
This post is part of a series called Miyamoto in Haiti
Prologue
January 18, 2010, Los Angeles, CA – Structural and Earthquake Engineer, Kit Miyamoto departed for Haiti with the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF). Miyamoto will provide structural engineering expertise to support PADF disaster relief efforts in Haiti.
“From my experience with disaster sites, together with the pressing scale of the humanitarian needs in Haiti, there will be limited resources to provide high level structural/earthquake engineering expertise. Providing this expertise is a key component of disaster response and it is very time critical,” said Miyamoto, CEO of Miyamoto International…