SAKIGAKE管理人 Tsunami struck at noon
May 26, 1983, 11:59 a.m. — On a clear weekday just before noon, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Akita Prefecture. Of the 104 fatalities, 100 were caused by the tsunami. But looking closely at who those victims were reveals another dimension of this disaster. Forty-one construction workers on a seawall project, 18 recreational fishermen, and 13 elementary school children on a field trip. The people who lost their lives in the greatest numbers were those who were outdoors — away from home — during the hours they would normally be at work or school.
Does your organization’s BCP account for a tsunami striking during the daytime, outdoors, while people are at work or school? On this 43rd anniversary, we would like to pose that question once again.
A clear afternoon — why so many lives were lost “at that particular time”
The 1983 Japan Sea Earthquake struck just before noon on May 26 — a sunny weekday in early summer. The time of day and the weather conditions were decisive factors in shaping the scale of the disaster.
Calm waves, clear skies — with these conditions aligned, the coastline that day was filled with construction workers, fishermen, recreational anglers, and children who had come for their spring field trips. As the first wave arrived in as little as seven minutes after the earthquake, people who had no knowledge of tsunamis and received no warning in time were swept away one after another.
Looking at the breakdown of victims, 41 seawall construction workers, 18 recreational fishermen, and 13 elementary school children stand out. What they had in common was being outdoors, and being in the middle of work or a school activity. This was no coincidence. The daytime conditions — people outdoors, in transit, engaged in outdoor work — dramatically reduced any opportunity to escape.
The tragedy of 13 schoolchildren — “they went down after the shaking stopped”
Kamogaisa Beach in Oga City, Akita Prefecture. A group of fourth and fifth graders from a school in the inland mountains had come for a field trip. After riding out the earthquake inside their bus, they descended to the beach to eat their packed lunches — and were struck by the tsunami. Thirty-two children were rescued, but 13 never returned home.
The accompanying teachers, the bus driver, the children — if even one person present had recognized the danger of a tsunami, it is very likely this tragedy could have been avoided.
This fact reveals that the knowledge of “go to high ground when you feel shaking” had not taken root at the scene. Because the shaking had stopped, those present judged the situation to be safe and proceeded toward the beach. This pattern of behavior is a textbook example of what happens when an organization’s evacuation drills focus only on responding to the shaking itself, without incorporating the tsunami response actions that must follow.
Does your organization’s BCP account for “daytime and outdoors” scenarios?
What the lessons of the 1983 Japan Sea Earthquake ask of today’s corporate and school BCPs is this: “Who are we protecting, and where will they be, and when?” Many organizations’ BCPs and evacuation plans are designed with employees and students inside a building as the primary scenario. Yet when you consider actual working hours, situations where people may be outdoors are far from rare.
✔ Workers in construction, logistics, delivery, and other roles that involve outdoor or mobile work
✔ Employees who have stepped out or gone to a restaurant during their lunch break
✔ Students and children engaged in field trips, physical education classes, or club activities
✔ Workers or event attendees at coastal, riverside, or low-elevation locations
✔ Employees of companies with offices or bases in coastal or port areas
In most organizations, there is still little drilling or communication in place for these scenarios — specifically, covering how employees and students should act after an earthquake strikes. While the knowledge of “hide under a desk if you’re inside a building” has spread widely, the instinct to “head immediately for high ground if you feel shaking while outside” has by no means been deeply internalized — even in coastal communities.
Three perspectives for a “daytime scenario” BCP
Drawing on the lessons of the 1983 Japan Sea Earthquake, here are three points for organizations to revisit.
[Perspective 1] Track where your employees are, hour by hour
Where employees are located at the moment of an earthquake varies greatly depending on the time of day. It is necessary to anticipate location scenarios by time of day — during working hours, during lunch, on external visits, during on-site work — and prepare corresponding action protocols for each.
[Perspective 2] Develop separate drills for work locations on coasts, riverbanks, and low-lying areas
Even if your main office has an evacuation plan, separate evacuation plans are needed for field sites and workplaces along the coast. In coastal areas where a tsunami can arrive in minutes, the only way to protect lives is to repeatedly train the reflexive response: “get to high ground the moment you feel shaking.”
[Perspective 3] Establish tsunami response procedures for field trips, staff retreats, and outdoor events
Few organizations have yet shared tsunami response procedures for outdoor activities away from the usual workplace or school building. It is essential to put in writing the first steps to take “if you are in transit or outdoors,” and to ensure that those leading the activity — chaperones and staff in charge — are empowered to make those decisions.
“Tsunamis don’t reach the Japan Sea” — a deadly assumption
Until the 1983 Japan Sea Earthquake, the belief that “tsunamis don’t come to this sea” was deeply rooted along the Japan Sea coast. The previous tsunami damage had occurred more than 150 years before — the oral tradition had faded, and there were even mistaken legends suggesting that retreating to the beach was safe.
This “delayed evacuation due to false assumptions” is not a problem unique to any particular region. “We’re inland, so tsunamis aren’t our concern.” “We’re far enough from the coast that we’re fine.” — These kinds of assumptions exist in many forms and in many places. In recent years, tsunami and flood damage has also been occurring increasingly in inland bays, rivers, and low-elevation areas, not only along the Japan Sea coast.
When revisiting your BCP or evacuation plan, we strongly recommend cross-referencing your organization’s locations against hazard maps to verify whether genuine risks exist. Risk assessment grounded in data — not assumptions — is the starting point for disaster preparedness in the modern era.
In closing — start with “Where will your employees be at that moment?”
Forty-three years after the 1983 Japan Sea Earthquake. One of the greatest lessons this disaster left behind is that preparedness for “people who are outdoors, in transit, or away during the daytime” tends to be left behind in disaster planning. Earthquakes give no warning of when they will strike. The time when employees are away from the office, the moment students are on a field trip, the instant a crew is working near the coast — plans and drills that anticipate all of these scenarios are what organizational disaster preparedness demands.
At SAKIGAKE JAPAN, we support the planning and implementation of disaster education and drills that are grounded in real-world conditions like these. If you are interested in reviewing your BCP or conducting disaster drills that include outdoor and transit scenarios, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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