Japan Opts for Massive, Costly Sea Wall to Fend Off Tsunamis

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SENDAI, Japan — Four years after a towering tsunami ravaged much of Japan’s northeastern coast, efforts to fend off future disasters are focusing on a nearly 400-kilometer (250-mile) chain of cement sea walls, at places nearly five stories high.

Opponents of the 820 billion yen ($6.8 billion) plan argue that the massive concrete barriers will damage marine ecology and scenery, hinder vital fisheries and actually do little to protect residents who are mostly supposed to relocate to higher ground. Those in favor say the sea walls are a necessary evil, and one that will provide some jobs, at least for a time.

In the northern fishing port of Osabe, Kazutoshi Musashi chafes at the 12.5-meter (41-foot)-high concrete barrier blocking his view of the sea.

“The reality is that it looks like the wall of a jail,” said Musashi, 46, who lived on the seaside before the tsunami struck Osabe and has moved inland since.

Pouring concrete for public works is a staple strategy for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its backers in big business and construction, and local officials tend to go along with such plans.

The paradox of such projects, experts say, is that while they may reduce some damage, they can foster complacency. That can be a grave risk along coastlines vulnerable to tsunamis, storm surges and other natural disasters. At least some of the 18,500 people who died or went missing in the 2011 disasters failed to heed warnings to escape in time.

Tsuneaki Iguchi was mayor of Iwanuma, a town just south of the region’s biggest city, Sendai, when the tsunami triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake just off the coast inundated half of its area.

A 7.2-meter (24-foot) -high sea wall built years earlier to help stave off erosion of Iwanuma’s beaches slowed the wall of water, as did stands of tall, thin pine trees planted along the coast. But the tsunami still swept up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) inland. Passengers and staff watched from the upper floors and roof of the airport as the waves carried off cars, buildings and aircraft, smashing most homes in densely populated suburbs not far from the beach. 

The city repaired the broken sea walls but doesn’t plan to make them any taller. Instead, Iguchi was one of the first local officials to back a plan championed by former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa to plant mixed forests along the coasts on tall mounds of soil or rubble, to help create a living “green wall” that would persist long after the concrete of the bigger, man-made structures has crumbled.

“We don’t need the sea wall to be higher. What we do need is for everyone to evacuate,” Iguchi said.

“The safest thing is for people to live on higher ground and for people’s homes and their workplaces to be in separate locations. If we do that, we don’t need to have a ‘Great Wall,’ ” he said.

While the lack of basic infrastructure can be catastrophic in developing countries, too heavy a reliance on such safeguards can lead communities to be too complacent at times, says Margareta Wahlstrom, head of the U.N.’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

“There’s a bit of an overbelief in technology as a solution, even though everything we have learned demonstrates that people’s own insights and instincts are really what makes a difference, and technology in fact makes us a bit more vulnerable,” Wahlstrom said in an interview ahead of a recent conference in Sendai convened to draft a new framework for reducing disaster risks.

In the steelmaking town of Kamaishi, more than 1,000 people died in the 2011 tsunami, but most school students fled to safety zones immediately after the earthquake, thanks to training by a civil engineering professor, Toshitaka Katada.

The risk is not confined to Japan, said Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Center, who sees this in the attitudes of fellow Dutch people who trust in their low-lying country’s defenses against the sea.

“The public impression of safety is so high, they would have no idea what to do in case of a catastrophe,” he said.

Despite pockets of opposition, getting people to agree to forego the sea walls and opt instead for Hosokawa’s “Great Forest Wall” plan is a tough sell, says Tomoaki Takahashi, whose job is to win support for the forest project in local communities.

“Actually, many people are in favor of the sea walls, because they will create jobs,” said Takahashi. “But even people who really don’t like the idea also feel as if they would be shunned if they don’t go along with those who support the plan,” he said.

While the “Great Forest Wall” being planted in some areas would not stave off flooding, it would slow tsunamis and weaken the force of their waves. As waters recede, the vegetation would help prevent buildings and other debris from flowing back out to sea. Such projects would also allow rain water to flow back into the sea, a vital element of marine ecology.

Some voices in unexpected places are urging a rethink of the plan.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, Akie, offered numerous objections to cementing the northeast coast in a speech in New York last September. She said the walls may prevent residents from keeping an eye out for future tsunamis and would be costly to maintain for already dwindling coastal communities.

“Please do not proceed even if it’s already decided,” she said. Instead of a one-size-fits-all policy, she suggested making the plan more flexible. “I ask, is building high sea walls to shield the coast line really, really the best?”

Rikuzentakata, a small city near Osabe whose downtown area was wiped out by the tsunami, is building a higher sea wall, but also moving many tons of earth to raise the land well above sea level.

Local leader Takeshi Konno said no construction project will eliminate the need for coastal residents to protect themselves.

“What I want to stress is that no matter what people try to create, it won’t beat nature, so we humans need to find a way to co-exist with nature,” Konno said. “Escaping when there is danger. The most important thing is to save your life.”

日本擬建「超級海堤」 爭議頻傳

311地震海嘯核災發生四年後，日本政府擬在東北沿岸修築一道約長四百公里，以混凝土砌成、近五層樓高的巨大海堤，避免海嘯再度為害，但這項造價不斐的計畫引發正反意見。

反對者認為造價八千兩百億日圓（約台幣兩千一百五十六億元）的海堤，不僅破壞海洋生態、景觀、損害漁業，且因多數居民將遷居高地，保護居民作用有限。贊成者認為海堤是「必要之惡」，且至少可提供就業一段時期。

居住北部長部海港，四十六歲居民宮本對這道十二點五公尺高的海堤頗不以為然。他說：「看來像道監獄圍牆。」

這項澆灌混凝土築堤的公共工程是執政自民黨的招牌策略，深獲大企業與工程公司支持，地方官員也無異議。

專家指出，這種計畫令人陷入兩難，它雖可降低損害，但也會降低危機意識。這對易遭海嘯、暴潮等天災侵襲的海岸居民是一大危險。2011年的311災難造成至少一萬八千五百人死亡或失蹤，與輕忽警告，未及時逃亡不無關係。

該區最大城市仙台市以南的岩沼市，在311災難發生數年前，為減少海灘腐蝕修建的高七點二公尺的海堤，在311災難時確實發揮了減緩與削弱海嘯力道作用，但大水仍是上岸長達五公里。該市已將受損的海堤修復，卻無將它增高的打算。

岩沼市前市長井口經明支持前日相細川護熙提議的種植混交林的造林計畫，表示人造海堤有倒塌的一日，「綠牆」更能持久。

首相安倍晉三妻子安倍昭惠也反對修築海堤。她去年九月於演講場中呼籲，即使作成決定，也不要付諸實施。

儘管反對聲音不少，但說服民眾不興建海堤，選擇細川護熙的造林計畫並不容易。支持造林的高僑說：「事實上，許多人選擇海堤，因為它可創造工作機會。不喜歡海堤的人，因怕遭到排擠，只好附和。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/22/world/asia/ap-as-japan-great-sea-wall.html

2015-03-23．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯王麗娟