Dr Kit Miyamoto, CEO of Miyamoto International, was in Tokyo, Japan during the 11 March M9 Tohoku Taihei Yo Oki Earthquake. A few days earlier he had been attending the CUEE earthquake engineering conference hosted at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Following the earthquake, his firm dispatched a team to the affected area to survey the damage and collect data for Japanese and international organisations.
He subsequently gave a presentation of his impressions and assessment of the damaged caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami to an audience at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, which is now available here to view online.
Miyamoto's survey team was given unprecendented access to the affected coastal areas, where the clear-up operation was in full swing. His presentation focuses mainly on structural damage to buildings, but contains many fascinating insights into the extent of the damage, the type of structures that survived, coastal protection measures and the tsunami warning system, as well as personal anecdotes from survivors he met during the survey.
