都市災害管理システム

The tragedy of the subway accident at the Taegu central station was no other than the manmade disaster. The human and property losses and consequential damage caused by it, however, implied the unique characteristics of urban disasters, which could be commonly observed in any case of natural disasters. The human urban settlements can only be distinguished from the rural settlements by the fact that whole urban living space are supported by modern technology, while rural space can basically be livable without such technology. The disaster in an urban area, either caused by manmade or by natural phenomena, gives damage to these technology and destructs them, resulted in not only human and property losses but also dysfunction of urban activities, which generates enormous economic losses. In order to mitigate damage caused by disasters in an urban area, the thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster or technical and engineering fault resulted in expansion of damage is not enough but a socioeconomic approach based on the deep insight of characteristics of urban disaster is vitally needed. Thus this paper tries to define what the urban disaster is, to identify what kind of unique damage different from a rural area appears, and to deduce how it is characterized in general forms, on the bases of some experiences of the earthquakes, which hit urban areas in the past. The paper then concludes that the continuity and indirect expansion of the original and direct damage are the main and essential characteristics of urban disaster, and the quick responses and recovery and reconstruction works after the disaster are equally important with preventive works before the disaster to minimize such consequential damage. The paper finally proposes the five non-structural measures in line with the socioeconomic scheme, which might be useful to manage urban disasters. They are an establishment of disaster information system, a human resource development, an improvement of planning technology for disaster management, an appropriate preparedness for relief, and an institutional and organizational arrangement.