Using an Enterprise Risk Management Framework to Prepare for Natural Disasters

The Great East Japan earthquake of March 11, 2011 and resulting tsunami striking the Tohoku region damaged or destroyed over one million structures in twenty prefectures claiming nearly 20,000 lives with damages estimated at... [ view full abstract ]

The Great East Japan earthquake of March 11, 2011 and resulting tsunami striking the Tohoku region damaged or destroyed over one million structures in twenty prefectures claiming nearly 20,000 lives with damages estimated at $37 billion (USD). As a major seaport, the city of Ishinomaki suffered the greatest centralized damage and four years later struggles to rebuild. Japan experiences earthquakes nearly every day, but rarely of the magnitude felt on 3/11. This project, applies an enterprise risk management framework to aide in the risk assessment, risk management, and mitigation techniques that can be applied to reduce or avoid the cost of damage when primary natural disasters occur. Specific mitigation and intervention methods in the United States and Japan are compared against the severity of the natural event. Particular attention is paid to those methods which have been successful in the Tohoku region.