Evacuation Behaviors in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

We studied relationships between evacuation place and time, predisaster preparedness, and evacuation behavior and survival rate for both the dead and missing and the survivors of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. In order to elucidate the human impact, thousands of witnesses in areas from Tohoku to Kanto were analyzed. With a sample data number of 1,153, results show that behavior during the disaster differed for survivors and the dead and missing and that actual evacuation was associated positively with a higher survival rate. Based on these results, integrated strategies are proposed and discussed for the reduction of casualties in future large-scale natural disasters.