Response by the Ready-Mixed Concrete Industry for Recovery and Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake By T. Oyamada, Y. Hakamada, T. Kojima and S. Isogami
Concrete Journal, Vol.56, No.2, Feb. 2018
- Synopsis
- This paper summarizes the response by the ready-mixed concrete industry to the Great East Japan Earthquake as researched by the Ready-Mixed Concrete Seminar Committee (Chairman: Prof. Ichiro Iwaki from Nihon University) of the JCI Annual Convention held in July 2017. It presents a quantitative rundown of the characteristics of the disaster in terms of facilities, the supply of the various concrete materials since before the earthquake disaster, the shipping volumes of ready-mixed concrete, the ready-mixed concrete industry's response to demand increases, and its response to radioactive contamination. The two main causes of the extensive damage that occurred during the disaster can be broadly classified as the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami, and recovery from the damage caused by the latter took over three months. Structural damage was concentrated in three northeastern prefectures facing the Pacific Ocean, and demand for reconstruction grew particularly high in those prefectures. Aggregate shortages in the face of increasing demand became a serious issue and supplementation from outside the prefectures in question became a clear necessity.
- Keywords:
- earthquake reconstruction, ready-mixed concrete, disaster, aggregate shortage, shipping volume, demand increase, radioactive contamination
