"Earthquake Archive" that conveys lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake is closed one after another

It was found that there are a number of digital archives that have been decided to be closed or closed by collecting materials and videos from that time and publishing them on the Internet in order to pass on the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake to the next generation.

Experts point out that data that conveys the actual situation of the earthquake may be dissipated, and "it is necessary to discuss how to keep materials that may be useful for new knowledge of disaster prevention."

Regarding the efforts of digital archives related to the Great East Japan Earthquake, the government's Reconstruction Initiative Council announced in May 2011 that "the records of the Great East Japan Earthquake will be forever preserved and scientifically analyzed, and lessons learned will be passed on to the next generation." Was set as the principle of reconstruction.

Local governments, private organizations, companies, etc. have released materials related to damage, recovery, and reconstruction, and currently there are more than 40 items that can be confirmed.

However, at least three have been closed so far, and at the end of this month, the Japanese Red Cross Society closed an archive that publishes about 2,500 items such as activity records from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear accident, memoirs of rescue team members, photos and videos. I found out that I would do it.

Regarding the reason, the Japanese Red Cross Society says, "10 years after the earthquake, to review the form of the business," and the data will continue to be published in the archive operated by the National Diet Library.

The National Diet Library has received several other consultations regarding data transfer.

Experts point out that in addition to securing human resources, it is not possible to maintain the large cost of operating and updating servers, etc., and there is a risk that archives will become difficult to operate or will be closed one after another in the future.

Akihiro Shibayama, an associate professor at Tohoku University who is familiar with disaster archives, said, "It is conceivable that new knowledge of disaster prevention will be born by making the records of the earthquake widely available and making them publicly available, but the process of closing and taking over the archives. There is a risk that the data will be poorly managed and dissipated. It is necessary to have a social discussion on how to leave the materials for the next generation. "

Published on the archive net that keeps records of the great earthquake

Efforts to archive digital data of the Great East Japan Earthquake began immediately after the earthquake.

In March 2011, "Harvard University Edwin O. Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies" started an initiative to collect information, personal testimonies, videos, etc. on the Internet related to the Great East Japan Earthquake and released it on the Internet. ..

At the Reconstruction Design Council held in May of the same year, the Japanese government also said, "We will keep a record of the Great Earthquake forever, analyze it scientifically by a wide range of academics, pass on the lessons to the next generation, and pass it on to the next generation at home and abroad. In addition to incorporating "dissemination" into one of the seven principles of the reconstruction concept, the basic reconstruction policy announced in July also clearly states that records of the earthquake disaster will be recorded and made public.

In response to these movements, the affected local governments, companies, private organizations, etc. have also collected documents, videos, web information, etc. collected by each and compiled them into digital archives, and more than 40 have been released so far.

Furthermore, the National Diet Library, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, began developing a system for linking data between digital archives in April 2012, and in March of the following year, released a portal site "Hinagiku" that allows data to be searched.

As of last month, a total of 4.45 million items of data held by 53 archives can be searched online at once.

Archiving challenges Large costs

The challenge with digital archives is the high cost of operation and maintenance.

The Miyagi Prefectural Library has been publishing materials for the earthquake disaster collected by local governments and libraries since June 2015 on the Internet in collaboration with municipalities in the prefecture.

According to the librarian Shinichiro Kumagai, there were few cases of digital archives at the time of launch, and it is said that they were handmade from scratch by combining existing database systems.

It cost about 600 million yen to build the system and to scan paper materials and convert them into digital data, but at that time, almost all of them were covered by national subsidies.

However, the cost of operation and maintenance was incomparable to that of paper materials.

In the case of paper, the annual cost of adding a library and purchasing equipment is hundreds of thousands of yen, while digital archives cost millions of yen each year for server usage fees and equipment updates. It means that it depends.

However, national subsidies cannot be applied to operational costs, and as the government's support for reconstruction diminishes 10 years after the earthquake, it is becoming difficult to raise costs.

Mr. Kumagai says, "Digital archives do not produce tangible results, so I am struggling to understand the significance of the business and allocate the budget even if I cannot afford it."

Owner's permission procedure is required for publication

According to Associate Professor Akihiro Shibayama of Tohoku University, some digital data related to the Great East Japan Earthquake, such as memoirs and administrative correspondence documents at that time, are valuable for learning the history and lessons of the earthquake, but they are open to the public. It means that there are many more private ones.

The reason is that Associate Professor Shibayama has not completed the work because it takes time and money to convert paper materials into image data, and the procedure to obtain the permission of the owner necessary for publishing on the Internet has been completed. It points out that it is not.

Many of the private data are unknown to the owner, or the organization that created them has been disbanded, and some of them have not been approved and are not expected to be released.

Furthermore, due to the lack of processing of rights, not only digital data but also actual materials have been disposed of.

In Namie Town, Fukushima Prefecture, we have opened a "memorial goods exhibition hall" in July 2014 to display personally owned daily necessities such as photographs and school bags found in search activities and call for them to be picked up.

So far, more than 10,000 people have visited the venue and more than 2,300 items have been collected, but in recent years the number of visitors has decreased, so it is scheduled to close on the 21st of this month as it has finished its role.

Of the approximately 15,000 daily necessities left uncollected, some of them, excluding photographs, will be memorialized and then disposed of.

As the reason for the disposal, Namie Town said, "It is not possible to donate all personal property as earthquake disaster materials to libraries and museums without confirmation of the owner. It was unavoidable to dispose of it." ..

Associate Professor Shibayama said, "It is becoming more difficult year by year to collect materials at the time of the earthquake and confirm permission to publish due to the relocation of people in temporary housing. A large-scale disaster has occurred. It is necessary to discuss how to handle copyrights and ownership in some cases and pass on the materials to posterity, using this lesson as a lesson. "