Japan's Great Wall: Can It Stop A Tsunami? | Foreign Correspondent
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- čas přidán 1. 03. 2021
- When a massive tsunami engulfed the north-eastern coastline of Japan a decade ago, it wiped out everything in its path, flattening villages, killing nearly 20,000 people and triggering a nuclear meltdown.
The old seawalls which had been built along the coastline to protect villages and infrastructure offered little protection. Today, the government’s solution to a future tsunami is to build an even bigger and longer seawall to protect Japan’s coastal communities.
Up to 14 metres high and 400 kilometres long, the new seawall is dividing
communities, and some fear, placing them in greater danger.
In this ARTE documentary, presented by former ABC Japan correspondent Mark Willacy, The Great Wall of Japan travels along the north-eastern coast of Japan’s main island to meet the fishermen and communities affected by one of the country’s biggest ever construction projects.
Oyster farmer Atsushi Fujita has mixed feelings about the wall, saying it’s destroying his community’s livelihood and culture.
“We're all very sad that our former lifestyle has gone and we can no longer see the ocean from our windows. It's really affecting us a lot.”
In the village of Akahama, fisherman Hiromi Kawaguchi has galvanised locals against the building of a giant wall. While he lost his wife and mother to the 2011 tsunami, he has no faith a new seawall will protect locals in the event of another great wave.
“In the last tsunami, the old wall was destroyed and its remains were left floating on the surface like cubes of tofu. Everything man-made is destined to be destroyed. It’s inevitable.”
But others support the wall, including construction executive Kazunori Yamamoto, who believes the old seawall saved his family in 2011.
“The breakwater earned us precious time, enabling a lot of people to escape. Without the breakwater, my whole family would have died.”
Scientists are divided on the benefits. Some say the wall will slow a tsunami’s advance, allowing more time for people to escape. Others say it will do the opposite, providing a false sense of security, delaying departure and putting people in greater danger.
Some believe the 13 billion US dollars spent on the wall’s construction could have been better used moving more communities to higher ground.
As Japan commemorates the tsunami’s 10th anniversary, this is a moving and timely story from the region hardest hit by the 2011 disaster.
About Foreign Correspondent:
Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time international public affairs program on Australia's national broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour duration in-depth reports for broadcast across the ABC's television channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our teams have journeyed to more than 170 countries to report on war, natural calamity and social and political upheaval - through the eyes of the people at the heart of it all.
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"A decade ago..."
Wow, it seems like it happened yesterday.
Felt that way too, times goes fast
That’s when you know you’re getting old
I'm old 😭😭
@@gollymane5419 i was 10
Can’t relate, I was too young back then to remember anything
This is a really well produced mini documentary. I was living in Japan when the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck. This has totally changed my mind about seawalls. The only thing missing from this documentary is the ancient stone markers that have been found in the hills of Japan. They say "Do not build below this point" in an attempt to warn the future generations of the destructive powers of a great tsunami.
wow...thank you.💯👍 First time to hear about the stone. Is there any name that i can search about it?
human life is the most important thing here yes, but city's on the coast can be rebuilt cheaper than environmentally damming walls. that money would be better spent on evacuation roads, marked safe zones, warning systems and emergency trams waiting to depart and systems to get people the hell out of flood zones. sometimes you have to work with enormous power not against it. and not living in flood zones is the smartest option of all. build your towns inland and commute to the coast for work or a good time and come back and live where it is safe. as the old sayings go's build your homes foundation on stone, not sand. meaning pretty much live where it is safest. unless you can afford to rebuild your home for the rest of your live. set down your roots where you know its safest. save the coast for industry, farming, fishing and recreation. and make your permanent life some where safe.
@Margaret Kpeh what an ignorant thing to say.
we may be strong but also have a weak mindset against society, hence the highest suicide rate
… Don’t build a house below this point…
Half information I was confused
I had fallen asleep in front of the TV that evening, I awoke in the middle of the night to coverage of the Tsunami, it was a horrendous spectacle. I followed the coverage daily, and I gained a tremendous respect for the Japanese people, no looting, neighbors helping neighbors, everyone helping each other and sharing what they had. That’s how it should be in every society. Much can be learned from the humanity and grace of the Japanese people by watching how they handled this disaster.
Homogenous
And now they want to dump the irradiated Fukishima water into the ocean despite protests from the international community.
They don’t have a 13%
@@Blatstein you don't have a brain.
imagine if they had as much land as the ungrateful Americans
"the concrete walls were floating on the ocean like tofu cubes" poetic
But concrete doesn’t float
We all know it’s to stop against the Titans from attacking
🤞
Godzilla will just walk over them 🦖
oh my god i was thinking the same thing
Yeah, the Colossal one
Ironically, they protect themselves from thousands of Titans...using millions of Titans
No graffiti. Imagine what those walls would look like in the west.
Gonna be like German wall's graffiti i think
Imagine how better they would look you mean?
@Wilhelm Strasse What are you talking about
@Wilhelm Strasse All I'm saying is it would look better with some colour
yes but it can reduce the rate of water arriving ashore, and can reduce the impact of damage
The small seawalls that existed saved countless lives because it gave people time to get to higher ground. My respect to the engineers and builders of japan.
No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to stop the full force of mother nature. Mother nature will always win.
human life is the most important thing here yes, but city's on the coast can be rebuilt cheaper than environmentally damming walls. that money would be better spent on evacuation roads, marked safe zones, warning systems and emergency trams waiting to depart and systems to get people the hell out of flood zones. sometimes you have to work with enormous power not against it. and not living in flood zones is the smartest option of all. build your towns inland and commute to the coast for work or a good time and come back and live where it is safe. as the old sayings go's build your homes foundation on stone, not sand. meaning pretty much live where it is safest. unless you can afford to rebuild your home for the rest of your live. set down your roots where you know its safest. save the coast for industry, farming, fishing and recreation. and make your permanent life some where safe.
My power is much greater
Unless you are inside a Jaeger.. *cue the Pacific Rims theme
The idea is to minimise damage and lives lost.
The best thing about japan is they always gathering together to recover all the things. Japanese is so so strong people, no doubt. They are fast, polite, great, awesome, .. i hope japan always stay strong for all the disaster..
I agree. Haiti today is still in mess even Haiti received 2,422 millions in foreign aid.
@No rude Clinton foundation? Not surpise.
@@dirtbikerswe1979 LOL yeah Haiti is still a mess but you can't compare the tragedy Haitians faced during their disaster. There is also political and economic stability in Japan compared to Haiti. There were more damages made by the earthquake and more people died in Haiti compared to Japan. We shouldn't be comparing different countries tragedy rather we should hope for the best of all countries.
Very true. It is sad to see Japan this way.
apsolute right ...
My wife's family is from Iwate, and they suffered greatly from the tsunami in 2011. I've visited her hometown and met with what remains of her family. I've seen the town a few years after the disaster and then as the wall was being constructed. No one is rebuilding on the flats near the water. The only thing down there is that giant wall and some roads. You can still see the outlines of the foundations of homes that were ripped off the ground. What's left of the townspeople now live up on the hills overlooking the bay. You can still see the exact mark the tsunami wave reached, even ten years later.
Ancient tsunami markers can be found all over Japan.
These warn that no one should settle below the mark.
Unfortunately, people assume that things that happened 2 generations ago will not happen again.
The walls won't necessarily protect.
The best would be to rebuild the cities on raised ground.
@@sylviarohge4204 wow you know how to copy what the locals in the video said
@@TheTinkle1
I was more likely to copy what I saw in another report.
There such steels with the warnings were shown, some of them probably more than 1000 years old.
The price of that land will be unavoidably attractive to some people, once the terror fades from memory. The wall's purported security will lend a sense of security.
hgğhhhhhh h Hu
A perfect example of no ones opinion on this matter is better than the other.
Locals feel confined and feel like they lost the culture. Meanwhile, the government wants to find a solution and try to prevent another tragedy. I see both perspectives.
also those big big big contracts and government projects. fuuuh. a lot of money. but their arguments are very valid.
I like how the community gets to decide.
It is all about what to give up in favor of the other. Being a nation is harder than it is to be an individual
@@nabilghafar9150 plz read about Fudai tsunami wall,, Fudai the only village survived because of huge wall (50feet)
And then when the next Tsunami comes that vocal minority of locals are going to be pissed that the government did nothing, you just cant win with those people.
16:35
"Everything man-made is destined to be destroyed".
The man's got a valid point.
Wall is effective even when its destroyed. It gives time to peoples to evacuates.
@@SneakySteevy it could be a double-edge sword thou.
The huge wall could also harm them during an earthquake.
That's like saying "why live when you'll die someday". Wtf
I dunno the pyramids are still going strong.
@@Notmyname64 it's more like, live your best life because you'll die someday. Living inside a wall is obviously not the best life for these people. They don't build home near the ocean for safety. They know ocean is dangerous but it also give them happiness. They choose to accept it as part of their life.
It’s not to “stop” the tsunami. It’s to slower it down
yes but it can reduce the rate of water arriving ashore, and can reduce the impact of damage
I read this in Japanese accent.
A tsunami is literally a big wave, taking out power and integrity stops it. So technically speaking it actually stops it, even if there is spillage
@@hbwrks3921 lol
@@IllIlllI its still a massive amt of force put on the wall not to mention the waves could stack more on barriers creating fewer waves but the end result may still overrun this wall. Or simply break it enough in places. It only takes a small crack to break a dam
You might disagree, but the engineering is impressive. Japan is a very serious country.
@Josh Rogan economic reasons, historical etc... also most of the flat land in japan is close to sea level
Japan & Germany everyone else is a joke compared to them
not until you realize its age of consent is 13
@@MrMaksuz uh no German over engineer everything. so impractical.
@@Pygmyz06 i would add Slavic simplicity on top of that and its perfect
I live in Zeeland, the Netherlands. Below sea level. Protected by our Delta Works. We don't have Tsunami's here but we know the devastating effects from floods all too well.
To Japan I can say: Build your coastal defenses. Build them strong. Build them high. There is not enough land on the high grounds alone, so you will have to take your safety into your own hands. And if you need inspiration from your own country: look up the story of the sea-side village Fudai. It had a major stubborn enough to demand a sea wall and flood gate of 15.5 meters to be built to protect his town. He was not alive to see the result but it was the only village in the region that survived the 2011 tsunami without a breach. Today he is honored as a hero and the wall still stands tall.
Since the most important part seems to be missing, I would like to add something. This project also has the aspect of a public works project for those who lost their jobs due to the disaster.
This project needed to be promoted as soon as possible in order to reintegrate the affected people into society as soon as possible.
Ancient people have left many stone monuments warning that tsunami arrives when a big earthquake occurs at about 80 year intervals. Following those warnings is the best preventive measure to avoid similar tragedy, but in reality it seems hard for local people to live far away from the sea. Much of their lifestyle depends on the sea in both mentally and materially ways.
human life is the most important thing here yes, but city's on the coast can be rebuilt cheaper than environmentally damming walls. that money would be better spent on evacuation roads, marked safe zones, warning systems and emergency trams waiting to depart and systems to get people the hell out of flood zones. sometimes you have to work with enormous power not against it. and not living in flood zones is the smartest option of all. build your towns inland and commute to the coast for work or a good time and come back and live where it is safe. as the old sayings go's build your homes foundation on stone, not sand. meaning pretty much live where it is safest. unless you can afford to rebuild your home for the rest of your live. set down your roots where you know its safest. save the coast for industry, farming, fishing and recreation. and make your permanent life some where safe.
Where u get ur info from?
It's not just Japan, cities all over the world are still most populated around the coast. In Europe, cities are right beside active volcanoes. In the US, cities are right on top of active fault lines with past histories of large earthquakes, and also towns right in the middle of tornadoes paths and what's not. In Peru/Chile, again cities are all over the coast that had seen massive earthquakes and tsunamis. Hawaii, a state of US to this day is still heavily populated despite not having any seawalls but very well known for it's tsunamis and volcanic prones activities.
Out of all those countries or regions in this world, only Japan actually do something about it's natural disasters, so very big thumbs up to Japan! 👍
@@nutzhazel
良く言いました✌️😉✌️
19:27 - Eren talking about the wall
Then I shall protect the wall from marley by transforming into the attack titan.
We're not so different, You and I...
Japan is preparing for 'the Rumbling'
“If we kill all of Ocean.. will we finally be free?..”
Japan is a darling country. Good hardworking people. Love from India. RIP who lost their lives in Tsunami! 🙏
here in Chile, professor Lagos from the Catholic Univesity of Chile, told on an interview that the main issue , is not to try to make the water dont go onto villages , instead avoid building villages closer to dangerous land that could be flooded by a tsunami, it-s not cost efficient a wall surrounding the island, it scost efficient to build houses where tsunamis cant get :O !
But Japan is an island smh
It's call available space! Can't build on mountain tops to well.
Japan is one of the biggest economies so 17 billion is nothing, Chile can't afford that that's why we are looking for different alternatives.
@@johnces1670 that's a good point
@@NYCity378 it's not a small island tho. Its also have mountain and hill. Beside Japan also have more than twenty mountain that reach three thousand meter in high.
You can't stop them all, but stopping 70-80% of the peak wave is a win, no matter what. Well done Japan!
Being cut off from the ocean is a tragedy in its own right.
Agreed
@@faithrada 👍, but complicated
Of course wall Maria, Rose & Sina.
Aye i see watch u did there do u like the new season
Keep calm and stay sasageyo bruh
@@vivoslibertos sasgeyo means sacrifice or give up right? Wtf did you write then lol.
@@SahilP2648 sasagayo means give/dedicate ur heart and soul.
Baka!!!!
@@12tale86 sasgeyo doesn't have heart in it afaik. Shinzo means heart. Shinzo sasgeyo means give up/sacrifice your heart
On one hand this is a spectacular project meant to protect them and on the other hand it breaks my heart that they cannot see the ocean anymore. It's a hard one for sure, because you never want to see your loved ones and livelihood lost again but life feels empty without the beauty of the nature.
I appreciate the scene at 18:23 and 20:43 where it captures the scale of the seawall and how people relate to it in everyday setting.
People in the comment section suddenly become the expert of tsunami and wall, thinking they have much better idea
true, but these sort of things just proves how people out there are full of shit, and it doesnt matter what you do to try and help people will still bloody whinge. you cant beat mother nature if they want to wine about it next time leave them to deal with it themselves
People with common sense will tell you that building a town in the same spot next to the ocean with only a wall to protect it from earthquakes and tsunamis is quite stupid, given that historically they haven't helped much. So yes, it would seem we the masses have more expertise.
@@danielpalma1426 Japan is almost 80% mountainous terrain and the coasts are some of the only places habitable for their large population. This Tsunami was also a 1 in 1,000 year event for Japan according to seismologists, and it'd take another one of those events to breach these walls, and even then it'd lessen impacts to an extent and/or give residents an extra few crucial minutes to evacuate... So no, the masses do not know more.
@@jname9368 is it really that hard to live in the mountains in Japan? I live in the mountains in California... quite pleasant.
@@bolasblancas420 You're one person, there are many people living in the mountain regions in Japan as well of course, but not the big cities, there are many reason why they tend to be close to the shorelines.
“Wall debris like cubes of tofu”
- that’s a line good enough for a death poem.
The walls in Japan, actually slowed down the tsunami significantly.
Also, stopped a lot of its mass.
The problem was they were made 10 meters tall, this tsunami was up to 40.5 meters tall, if the walls would have been let's say 50 meters it would have been an entire different scenario
Tsunami happens no matter there is wall .
@@jumpinggoldagatito9153 Tsunamis usually only occur in earthquakes 7.5 and up depending on where the rupture of the plates takes place.
In this case in 2011 The tsunami walls slowed it significantly. If the walls weren't there the damage and possible deaths would have been so much worse. That's why these tsunami walls are there. The problem was the earthquake was too powerful and the waves were much higher than expected that's why at the moment they are building much higher walls to try to prevent it from happening again.
@@MaritsView
They are building where the earthquake happened in 2011.
The energy earth contained has released already there.
Next one may come 200+years away in future.
Other part of Japan is more likely receive earthquake and tsunami.
Why not build in these more risky area?
It is one of sample Japanese foolishness that found everywhere but they do not noticed or pretend not know it.
All of them have valid points.
It's just a matter of weighing the pros and cons of building the seawall.
They definitely need to get to higher ground. there’s no stopping that mayhem.
It's over Tsunami, I have the high ground.
@Corey Aldrich tsunami's are caused by ocean floor earthquakes not climate change
@Corey Aldrich Sea levels... centimers a decade
ISLANDS are VOLCANOES !
All those mountains in Japan that have barely any construction yet everyone decides to build at sea level 🤦♂️
Japan is building a great wall and the ocean is going to pay for it
@Waldel Martell its a reference to trump and the wall he wants to build on the Mexican border
Waldel Martell the joke went out of your head
@@iancarr722 Dutch hahaha
@@iancarr722 2011 proved that even the Japanese can't outsmart nature. Japanese are also still human beings
Wtf ur pfp
Dude that wall looks so great it's... beautiful.
I honestly want to see it DEFEAT a tsunami of similar size to the one of 2011.
Would be a celebration of successful Japanese mega-project.
This is the shotgun approach to problem solving. Early detection/warning systems, tsunami proof shelters and evacuation plans would be a better investment.
Water is the most dangerous element, you can slow it down but it will still come for you
Im Dutch, we hold the sea back for hundreds of years, why cant Japan do the same ? Ok we have no tsunami, but rising water levels is the same problem and we also manage to control it.
@@Pietervandebuurt a tsunami is a completely different story that what's happening with you guys. It's insanely powerful and shifts literally the entire ocean. Imagine the rock that literally takes up entire continents shifting up the water in a powerful flick, that shit is pretty much unstoppable. All you can really do is slow it down
When something like 70% of our planets surface tells you something, best you listen..
@@Pietervandebuurt duude its not the same. Tf you talking about
The point of making this walls aren't to STOP the Tsunami but to slow down and its force of impact.. Watch the video it says all.
The old Japan worked it out with large rocks on hills saying unsafe to build below here
Exactly
this is not old japan this is small islands with 130 million people. 80% of japan consists of mountains
@@davidjoelsson4929 by old i mean a few generations the rocks were placed many years ago possibly a few hunderd to let them know of the dangers of building below certain elevations as thats where the waves came to in the past most are now lost in forests. I'd put a link to the documentary i saw them in but can't remember the name. You can look up Japan Tsunami rocks in google and see some info rather easy tho
That's not really possible anymore because it's not possible to build a city on mountainous terrain and that's what most of Japan consists of, mountainous terrain. Japan really only has 3 options:
1: Giant sea wall
2 Demolish an entire mountain to gain more usable land (Environmentalists would flip their sh*t if they chose this one)
3 Take the beating the ocean throws at them
I absolutely love Japan, from the people, language, cultures, the nature around an traditional ways of life.. I loved this documentary 🙏 thank you! More please ☺💓
Excellent documentary and I never knew they have built a bigger wall. Loved the thoughts of building on higher ground and exactly how long will the wall last? Tragic events and hope they never see it again
Sad these walls remind people only about those days
One day, it'll remind future generations why they're safe. I hope.
I agree with you... hope it can serve as a reminder that lives can be saved :)
A reminder that Japanese people will continue to live and prosper for centuries if not millenia, to come.
And its a good thing
Lol so we shouldnt take a covid vaccine because it reminds us of those days
14:02 - wise man of the seas. This old man knows whats up.
An amazingly well researched article. I lived in Japan 3 years and the change is coming whether you like it or not.
I just finished watching a short video about the village of Fudai which was saved from the devastating tsunami of 2011. I didn't know there was a town that escaped destruction but thanks to the vision and convection of mayor Koto Kawamura, they built a wall that was 50 feet tall and effectively protected the village.
a somber celebration.
nature disaster cant be stop, but we can reduce the damage of it.
Here in Philippines we have also a Great Wall it is a nature barier Against typhoons it is called "Sierra Madre" Mountain Range ..
We also have the Dolomite 😹
@@SuperPatruch realy?
@@johnpaullacsamanatinampay8299 Of Course !!! alam mo yan 😹😹😹😹😹
@@SuperPatruch Dolomite na isang Tourist Attraction sa sandaling Panahon 😌
People assume that the project is the wasted of money like 10B+; but I still believe that it is great that the government waste this money to build something for their people safety, rather than wasted them on useless thing.
Very good documentary with good insight into different variables on the issue. Thank you! 👍
I remember just graduating and trying to sign up to help clean up Japan. Prayers up to all the families who lost their lives in the tsunami.
Yeah prayers all round will sort it all out!
You are from which country brother?
@@joevelosa7056 It actually did, so theres that...
@@patokiplah US
@@jsmoo1206 I really want to come to US fro greener pastures and education
Japanese know what they are doing they are pretty smart hardworking and mind their own business. They are self sufficient and don't depend on other countries for survival.
Japanese people are all one tribe and don’t have different. Ethnic people like in America and other countries! They like to keep them selves pure Japanese , and when a baby is born it must have the Mongolian spot on the back of its head or it’s not pure Japanese ! If you want to get married they check into your background to see that you have no Korean blood! Very very racist put don’t talk about it ! That’s the difference but it’s always there !
@@gayeinggs5179 Cringe.
@ぃゃmeru Some people does not realised that their culture does not apply to every country. A very American attitude.
@@gayeinggs5179 "racism" is what actually help japan to be prosperous nation that it is today,and being open to outsidera is what is leading to western countries downfall.
No country is self sufficient. Japan imports a lot of its food and most of its natural resources
Building high sea walls in the shoreline seems almost dystopic to me. The residents, who feel they've been cut off from the ocean, are right. I understand the need to protect people and buildings, but surely there has to be another way...More accurate predictions of earthquakes and tsunami heights, better implemented escape plans for the residents, or even relocating the towns on elevated ground, or maybe building a sea wall outside the harbor, not in front of the coast and the people's houses. I am Greek, and we too have a special connection to the sea, while being earthquake prone as well, but I can't imagine 14m sea walls on the shoreline, it would make me depressed, especially if my livelihood depended on the ocean.
Kind of reminds me of the Los Angeles seawall from Blade Runner 2049
Madness of Japan.
Its culture.
Greece has never had a tsunami on the scale of 2011 Japan, or any tsunamis at all.
What might improve the seawalls aesthetically is beautifying them By covering them in grass and rocks on the seaward side, planting trees etc. on the landward side. They look pretty brutal left as built. 🙂
Are you serious?
I really like your idea tbh
"10 years ago" god I'm old 😢😢
How old are you 15?
@@SkarKingg 22
@@appleslover You are so old... life starts at 30 just so you know so dont worry.
wait tell you reach 60
Well I'm a Sri Lankan and my home back yard is Indian Ocean. In 2004 my home town Galle was one of the hardest hits in Indian Ocean Tsunami but luckily our village was one of the luckiest areas which had less damaged. In our area there is a natural reef and also around 1m above from the sea level. There was around 5ft high stone wall between the beach and the backyard to avoid sea erosion. In Tsunami day we had only about 2 ft height wave flooded, actually no serious damages with compare to the adjacent villages which had hundreds of casualties and property damages. Only major damage was the stone wall between backyard and the beach was completely collapsed and it still there in the beach. So I do think stone wall and the reef played a major role breaking the wave otherwise we won't survive.
Yeahhh I was born on that day quite unfortunate
There is a man there warning people it will happen again.
THEY DEFINITELY NEED TO FIND MORE CREATIVE WAYS FOR USING THE WALL. Like for example instead of seeing it as prison wall they can build some type of elevated ocean view pedestrian corridor with small restaurants and shops and recreational spaces and even bike paths. This elevated corridor could be accesible through bike ramps. This way the precious ocean views aren’t totally lost. It’s all about creativity.
But what if the tsunami is higher than the seawall then all of that is gone
They always know how to built or come back after a disaster!! They have always proved it! Survival!!
Yes, it is extremely expensive for something that may not singlehandedly save the people from a future tsunami but it will at least give the residents more time to evacuate. Knowing Japan's usual efforts at preparedness, I am pretty sure that aside from the wall, they are also updating their evacuation plans. Ultimately, nature will always have its way, but time is of the essence when it comes to saving lives.
I still watch the Japan Tsunami videos regularly... it is the most incredible thing I've ever seen, and devasting for the Japanese people too. Very sad
Indonesian tsunami is much more visually impressive IMO. One of the most mind boggling waves in recorded history
Mark's a great narrator. Please keep these great series up!
Always proud of Japanese people, love from Malaysy❤
If anything it will give the residents more time to evacuate, that is a fact.
human life is the most important thing here yes, but city's on the coast can be rebuilt cheaper than environmentally damming walls. that money would be better spent on evacuation roads, marked safe zones, warning systems and emergency trams waiting to depart and systems to get people the hell out of flood zones. sometimes you have to work with enormous power not against it. and not living in flood zones is the smartest option of all. build your towns inland and commute to the coast for work or a good time and come back and live where it is safe. as the old sayings go's build your homes foundation on stone, not sand. meaning pretty much live where it is safest. unless you can afford to rebuild your home for the rest of your live. set down your roots where you know its safest. save the coast for industry, farming, fishing and recreation. and make your permanent life some where safe.
It seems you missed how the seawall slows evacuation as people think they have time to gather their possessions to take with them. The old markers were there, but with autos, the distance/time equation changes things unless you're packing up too. Natural disasters kill, that's the risk we all have living in the universe.
or false sense of security
@@DUSaggin All the citys that were demolished yes can be rebuilt. However more lives would have been spared if people would have had more time to escape. The wall will allow more time to save lives. More time = more survivors.
@@john-martin walls are a waste of money. taller, stronger buildings for safe spots, evacuation trams, wider evacuation roads and other infrastructure to get people out of the area's would be cheaper and more effective and less environmentally detrimental, also the walls useless if it destroys the reason people live in these places in the first place, if ppl don't move back what good is a wall just a waste of money, time and the environment.
I remember when a super typhoon hit our town. If it weren't for the seawall, waterfront properties would have been washed away. The waves went over the wall and some people picked up fishes when the water receded. You can actually see how much sand the sea surge brought with them. Before the typhoon, the wall was almost 6 feet high from the sea level; I remember jumping down to reach the beach because the stairs were too far away. Now, you can sit on the top of the sea wall and your feet will be firmly planted in the ground. It was good foresight by the local government and they are constantly extending it, probably until the wall encompasses the whole length of the beach. The other towns in our region were washed away and the death toll was high.
Hell Yeah! Donald Trump said it best! Build that wall! Build that wall!
Where was this? Phillipines?
@@nutzhazel ??? North Eastern Japan.
Great production team watched full and didn't know how it get over... Cheers
Not being able to see the ocean is a great pity 😭
Many locals who have lost their loved ones protested against these 11-15m tall walls of approx. 400km long that costed approx. US$12 billion. 2km-long, 14.7m-tall, US$330M walls were built where no one lives any longer, as everyone has relocated to a higher ground. Just as Mr Kawaguchi says, they used to live together with the sea. The traditional teaching was that people watch the sea as soon as there is a large earthquake, and run if the tide goes out. It’s the human arrogance , the false sense of security, that delays people from running and kills them. There are records that have shown that four times more died where the sea was not visible. The Japanese central and local governments + mega construction companies were not interested in evidence, the local ‘wisdom’ or longer-term impacts on the environment, fisheries or tourism.
Not to mention the maintenance cost: concrete is said to typically last 50-60 years. The population of those coastal areas is dwindling. Local municipalities do not have money. The only way to repair these if/when damaged is to receive subsidies from the central government, and such subsidies do not get approved unless the damage was caused by a natural disaster.
@@hbattagl You realize sea levels are higher compared to when those people been living in those villages decades ago right? This isn't a case about tradition has wisdom over bureaucracy, this is a case of reality hitting you in the face hard. Also humans in general are curious yet stupid creatures. We often wonder what is going on when in situations that might end up turning into a deadly worst case scenario. How often you see people drive and look at a car crash, which often leads to another accident? We ignore danger out of ignorance because as a species, we've been killing each other for centuries that natural force and phenomenon seem almost too unreal until it too late.
@@WatcherMovie008 I am not sure what sea levels have anything to do with this but as an ex-resident of one of these ‘villages’ of 50K population, which lost about 3000 people, 3 being my family members, I guarantee you that this was not about tradition vs bureaucracy. Researches showed 4 times more fatalities in places where people couldn’t see the water. This is an evidence-based, shared safety strategy in tsunami-prone places.
What the government should have done is to invest in purchasing higher ground and relocate the residents. They didn’t do it because it requires much harder and more complicated processes than just putting them back where they already have land titles, and also because developers who will inherit the projects prefer existing land rather than raw, less-accessible, more expensive-to-build land for cost effectiveness. Besides, concrete walls on beaches will keep generating jobs which local governments want.
Many able residents have left the prefectures or relocated to higher ground and there were those who wanted to stay for their love of home town, but older and/or poorer residents like my uncles, aunties and cousins had no choice but going back where the government says they should.
As for ignoring danger out of curiosity, and that is what kills people, that is precisely why the government should have invested in relocation rather than building walls that would encourage people to be even more arrogant. The walls literally become platforms for those who want look at the danger. And, yes, you cannot save everyone for their silly behaviours but that does not mean you give up on saving as many as you can, does it?
Anyway, thank you for your reply and please read and find about about what exactly happened for this specific disaster.
Japan is the nation that defeated Godzilla. They'll be fine.
didnt really defeat him, he just went back into the water after a while lol
Lol 😂
@@psych3009 You haven’t watched “Shin-Godzilla”
Excellent work on this foreign correspondent series!! 5 stars!
This is a very well written and produced documentary that brings up very important stakeholder issues and like all people around the world have a very close relationship built on respect of nature.
Build a wall as high as you want. But when the land its on drops 20, 30 or 40 feet....it won't be quite as effective as planned.
Oh I think it will be as the purpose of those walls are too keep the people from escaping.
they already calculated that, this is Japan we are talking of.
When the initial wave hits the wall, water continues to build up behind it. The height of the wall will need to be several times the height of the wave. I hope they learned that from the last wave.
@@MikeJones-rk1un there's multiple ways the japanese can improve the wall to prevent tsunamis, either by putting submerged near shore breakwaters or recurve walls that can deflect back a waves energy back at the sea or big rock armours that weakens the waves energy, i think a youtube video exists that proved this.
@@jdmkIII They also calculated that a 5 meter wall will protect the Fukushima Daiichi power plant from a tsunami. How did this work out?
Rest in Peace to those who lost their lives to the 2011 Tsunami, I still remember that day like it was yesterday :(
Love to Japan from Canada !
Wow. very very very good documentary. I was hooked right from the beginning.
Damn He straight gangster for that shit.
“If another tsunami 🌊 comes then bring it on we will not be defeated!”
What a bad ass
😑
Watching this unfold on TV at the time was the most unreal thing I will probably ever see!
This sounds like something out of the first Pacific Rim movie,but instead of a hulking Kaiju,the wave of destruction.
I was literally just thinking that... And it didn't do much to protect Sidney.
@Ser Garlan Tyrell since Japan is the birthplace of anime, they should've invested all that money that they used to construct the wall into developing a Jaeger. Stacker Pentecost approves.
@@pageylruatahmar9233 mj9
That was so learning for me. Very interesting and informative... Thanks for sharing. 💯💯⚘
loved this, hope to see an update soon
Amazing high quality docu, such a great video shots, great interviews. Highly appreciated, I want more of this
Build the walls AND move to higher ground, if everyone successfully moves, then you will have fertile "salt free" farmland, its ugly at first but later will become part of Japan and beautiful.
Move to higher ground thats not a solution japan is mountainous and they can't really build cities up in the mountains
The mountains might have landslides if JPN build cities there.
Running from nature has never worked. Has wearing these masks and numbers constantly increasing taught you nothing.
50-year-old concrete is still ugly.
@@sergarlantyrell7847 there is beauty in everything
Thing about walls they not only stop things from coming in but eventually can be used to stop people from getting out!
I am amazed to see how much has been done over the last 10 years & hope to see how they have moved forward by 2031..
Was speechless to watch & even more so now with some of the clip.
Unbelievable speeds & strength. Theses people are amazing. It's a shame the wall will shut them in but gives chances & will save time & lives in the future.
Some of the oldest civilisation... god bless my Asian family.. my thought are with you all & wishes.. god bless all who survived & protect all that were lost. 🙏🏽🕊🙏🏽🕊🙏🏽🕊🙏🏽🕊🙏🏽
3:11 I just realize we're 5 days from the 10th anniversary of this painful day.
Exactly what I was thinking
What I was thinking too. Hard to believe it has gone 10 years I remember the 11/3 disaster like it happened last year.
We had an advance reminder here in NZ our Friday.
Spent a hot day with loud cicadas on a hill. Nothing much happened thankfully. My brother was woken by the early morning quake tho, but that isn't particularly unusual here. It's the Tsunami you don't evacuate for that you need to worry about. Not the 'non events' like here on Friday.
Some stupid videos on YT showed the Japanese Tsunami as if it was the NZ 'almost Tsunami'.
I remember hearing about it in the 4th grade.
As I write, today is the 10th anniversary of the day
This is some top notched story telling of these incredible and resilient people of Japan. I am in awe
In Japan, it is important to be seen doing something, even if it is known to be ineffective.
This is what I always admire about Japan. They do not hesitate to do more and go beyond lengths no matter if it can thoroughly stop the natural disaster. What's important is the preparation they can make that it can save lives no matter how much it costs.
1) They said that paramedics were more efficient than the seawall but because of the seawall it gave them more time to save more people.
2) One guy said that rivers can't go to the ocean anymore and it might affect the oysters. Earlier one of the engineers said that the seawall has gates for rivers that they can open/close remotely.
I think they dont up to date this people in this video . Maybe they want blame that wall and dont have interest to get some infos about that . Some people are strange and dont use Network ...
Keep in mind he was also discussing how people aren't living in the tsunami vulnerable areas anymore, so he was questioning the usefulness of a giant wall that's protecting no one.
Regardless of the technical effectiveness of the walls, the tenacity of the Japanese people (in facing the natural disasters & other hardships, in general) is certainly legendary..even the tsunami victims dont seem to play victims, other than accept their fate and fight on
@@xPOWERx-ne1jr i think build a giant wall is wrong, they don't learn from their history, there must be another solution not just a wall
The whole spending insane money on the wall is perfect or politicians and their constructions companies they have connections with.
Because if they do they get ostracized. It has been reported that people from Fukushima have trouble renting apartments and kids from there are bullied because they are "contaminated.".
@@zeff8820 You can't counter mother nature, especially if your country lives on the Ring of Fire. Japan geologically is one of the worst places to be, as it on the epic center of multiple Ring of Fires. To say the Japanese don't learn anything from history when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis is ignorant.
@@WatcherMovie008 ignorant? They just re-build their sea wall againts tsunami and it always destroyed 3 times! In their history!
Japan in ways is naturally gifted and cursed too.
Any people who make their livelihood from sea are aware of the dangers. It is a choice and I've never heard of any of them willing to give up that lifestyle.
Very good documentary. It brings back the pain.... I've watched everything on television in 2011 as it happens and my heart was broken for Japan and its people.
“Waves that were 15 meters breached over the 10 meter walls”
Japan: “let’s build 13 meter walls XD”
Yeah, but the 13 meter wall will slow the tsunami down which really is the "saving" grace of it.
Its a 15 meter high wave. But when it reaches the shore its height will increase before it hits the wall.
Structural Engeneering design of dams, retaining walls and levies have improved tremendously over this period. And the wall will reduce the energy of the water when it hits it. Even if it breaches, its gonna give them enough evacuation time and save many lives.
I dont think you know anything
It’s a joke people
@@drinkswatere sure 🥴
They should paint an ocean on the inside of the wall
Really helpful
imo, don't "stop" the water, redirect its force...
what I imagine is a curve that redirect the wave up and even backward, the water that flow back from upside break even more the strength of the coming water
Rest in peace and the condolences to the japanese family.greetings from the Philippines
This can slow down a tsunami but it still depends on how high the water level can be.
Yeah the water will keep coming, higher and higher....no matter how tall the wall
@@brutalninjagaming3149 yeah it would but the amount of water going to wipe the villages would be decreased. The wall were meant to slow down the water going in, not to stop them.
Wow. No way. Such an amazing revelation. Please hurry to tell the architects and engineers working on this project about your observations.
Having driven most of that coastline; the wall is a blight on the land. Some infrastructure needs a protective wall but the risk in many areas could have been mitigated with other measures. Continuous population migration means that a lot of the money not spent wisely. I’m glad some villages took a better approach
At least the walls can be torn down in the future if they prove to be a mistake, lives can't be remade.
@@3rdman99
And how much money does it take to resurrect someone back to life? Is that more or less expensive than building or tearing down a wall? Your obsession with money is disgraceful.
You know what is really a blight on the land? Tens of thousands dead because they didn't build that wall. They'll curse the government for following their wishes after the next one.
Everything man-made is destined to fail.. Wise words from an old man of experience.. So true.. Technology cannot withstand nature.. Period..
And we would agree with him, wouldn't we? I too had the same thought, no point in spending $billions to build something that you don't even know will protect you or not. I would have instead invested in any system that would help people escape and get out of harm's way with as minimum damage to lives and property as possible. If they think that is what the wall will do by buying them some precious minutes, so be it. But am not sure.
@@pkoppart Well it’s better than nothing.
But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to do man-made structures. For example: A house may not be able to withstand a storm, but you are still going to be better inside that house when the storm hits,than being out there in the open air. Same thing with a wall rather than no wall… the wall DELAYS the wave’s arrival time and height… thus giving people time to evacuate. You STILL have to build man-made structures.
Maybe after 100 tsunamis but as long a Japan are maintaining/strengthening the wall then I would call it a success
nothing lasts forever though, not even things of nature. everything that exists is bound to be destroyed or broken down in one way or another.
One of the reasons for high casualty number during the 2011 Japan tsunami, is the false sense of security for having the sea wall. In so many videos, I see people are very laid back because they trust the wall will protect them, as it has been for so many years. Cars are still moving about as if nothing happen. Only when the water are sweeping everything in the town, that people begin to panic.
Japan is so beautiful. The mountains remind me of my home state.
The fact that it happened exactly 10 years ago today, is sad.
as we don't build in flood plains in my part of the world anymore, I was happy to hear that these people were now building in the higher lands around the sea
It is scary when something catastrophic has already happened, and nothing is done to prevent it from happening again.
Goodbye beautiful beaches of Japan. I hope they never need to find out if the wall work!
Nah most of the beautiful beaches are in the south were tsunamis are (less) of an issue
Imagine having to go to work every day and the first thirty minutes are just calisthenics.
Try being in the army that 30 minutes is nothing
It’s been well proven, for a long time now, that doing so drastically reduces injury on the job.
@@sumguy01 I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Hell, it would be great if we did that here in the US. To be honest, that would beat the pants off of, "Just hit the ground running and move" like I do every day.
Ohhh wait , I've to look up into the dictionary to find what you mean .😶
@@sumguy01 also help to reduce heart attacks ,stress ,obesity ,blood clots
8:11 for a calm day that water is already up on the new wall ?
Storm's would even be a problem .
thank you for introducing...!
One of the ways would be coastal villages have large evacuation roads up to the hills and people trained to evacuate the villages at least twice a year just at the sound of sirene.
use it to many times and people wont bother. they will go where they want to watch some of the video people running in all directions evan to their death.
@@raypitts4880 I see, you don't know the Japanese culture and people who are very disciplined.