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Lessons from Japan’s 2011 tsunami: Preparation is the cornerstone of survival - Seizo Yahagi

Seizo Yahagi

Business can learn lessons from the unlikeliest of places. On March 11 2011, when the “super earthquake” caused a tsunami to strike the eastern coastal region of Japan, two schools immediately initiated their emergency evacuation plans. Pupils from the East Kamaishi Middle School and Unosumai Elementary School followed the rehearsed routes they had practiced over the preceding four years and worked together to reach high ground and safety as quickly as possible. Not one of the 570 children was lost.

 

Some businesses in the affected areas showed a remarkable resilience to the earthquake and tsunami, but they were very much at the forefront of business continuity planning, some had even conducted simulation exercises for such an eventuality. Many of these well-prepared businesses restarted operations within their recovery time objectives (RTOs) and continued trading. A handful even achieved their target RTOs within half the predicted time. However, these success stories were exceptions, given the destruction caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami waves, which exceeded 30 meters (100 feet) in some areas.

 

Unfortunately, large numbers of businesses suffered such extensive damage that some are still not yet back in business. Some had business continuity plans (BCPs) in place, but their supply chain networks were rendered useless such was the damage to their facilities, as well as the roads and power infrastructure.

 

Nearly 70 percent of large corporations that had BCPs in place have since rewritten them to strengthen their supply chain networks and back-up power supplies. Also, about half of those large businesses that did not have BCPs in place before the earthquake and tsunami have since produced one.

 

After the disaster, an innovative, co-operative network emerged called otagai-sama, which would translate into something along the lines of “we’re all in this together”. This is an arrangement between the same industry groups in remote geographical locations to provide mutual support in case of major disaster. For example, the Plating Industry Association in the Kanagawa region has signed a mutually co-operative agreement with the same industry association in the Niigata region. Interestingly when the Governor of Niigata called for local industry associations to support businesses in Fukushima, more than 130 companies in Niigata volunteered to let the Fukushima companies use their facilities to help them get restarted. Several governmental and business groups have called for the promotion of similar co-operative arrangements between businesses.

 

The otagai-sama concept is particularly important for Japan because the majority of large businesses depend on a network of small- to medium-sized companies that manufacture essential components. Large corporations have been forced to understand the network of supply chains on which their businesses rely and therefore need to understand and support the BCPs of their smaller business partners.

 

For a BCP to be successful, it is essential for larger businesses to realize that all their suppliers, and those suppliers' employees, are in fact the cornerstone of their success. Therefore, everyone throughout the supply chain network should share a common awareness and preparedness.

 

Programs to raise the awareness may be started with first aid training, emergency evacuation procedures, preparation of emergency supplies at home and the workplace, information sharing sessions on threats facing businesses, simple search and rescue operations involving community emergency response teams and understanding incident command systems.

 

With a supportive network and robust BCPs in place it’s hoped that all companies in the supply chain will be able to work together to make their way to the high ground and safety.

 

Seizo Yahagi is an independent consultant on earthquake preparedness. He spoke about the topic to a Johnson Controls Global WorkPlace Solutions' (GWS) customer group in Tokyo on 15 November. He has more than 30 years’ experience working for multinational companies and has been a crisis management consultant for more than a decade. In 2005, Seizo Yahagi wrote the book, Earthquake Countermeasures, which explores emergency response and Business Continuity Planning.

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