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Infrastructure’s Role Against Climate Change
ISHII, Yumio*,**,***
*Chairman, CTI Engineering Co., Ltd., 3-21-1 Nihonbashi-Hamacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
**Chair, WFEO Disaster Risk Management Task Group
***Immediate Past President, Japan Society of Civil Engineers
Received:October 6, 2008Accepted:December 4, 2008Published:February 1, 2009
Keywords:social phenomena structural/nonstructural measures, mitigation, adaptation
Abstract
Since the human beings have appeared on the earth, “Infrastructure” has been supporting their society with supplying Safety, Convenience and Environment. “Infrastructure” should consist of “Structural Measures” and “Nonstructural Measures” as well, though hard structure is most commonly recognized. At the same time, disasters jeopardizing societal Safety are apt to be considered natural but we must recognize all the disasters are societal. Therefore, not only direct damages to hard structures but also indirect and intangible damages to societal systems should be counted. The counter measures, structural and nonstructural ones covering short and very long range phenomena shall be considered. The measures are mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHG) and adaptation to climate change based on the State-of-Art technologies. The high economic growth of Japan has been supported by development of disaster prevention infrastructures, however, their crucial role tends to be overlooked. The potential disaster caused by climate change remains unrecognized by the politicians and the budget for disaster prevention has, under the Japanese government policy, been reduced. The sections that follow discuss the roles and responsibilities of infrastructures and Japanese civil engineers in challenges presented by potential disaster caused by climate change.
Cite this article as:ISHII and Yumio, “Infrastructure’s Role Against Climate Change,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.4 No.1, pp. 24-31, 2009.Data files:
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