Reena Jana of SmartPlanet recently interviewed the award-winning, Japanese architect Hitoshi Abe on the lessons he has learned from the March 11, 2011 earthquake that destroyed his hometown in Sendai, Japan. Abe believes that the memory of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the coast of northeaster Japan, triggering a tsunami that sent waves as far as six miles inland must remain fresh in our minds. His goal is to educate everyday citizens around the globe, as well as future generations, on how to better cope with large-scale natural disasters. Currently, he is serving as a guest-curator for a travel exhibition entitled Moving Forward: Life After the Great East Japan Earthquake. This exhibit brings to life the haunting reality of the devastation through a series of large-scale photographs and photographic essays that reveal individual stories of survival immediately following the disaster. The exhibit commemorates the victims and struggles of the survivors, while highlighting the reconstruction and recovery efforts.
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In the interview with Reena Jana, Abe states, “It has become extremely clear that we have to “negotiate” with nature.” We must not be “overly confident” with our modern systems and understand their limitations in order to create a more disaster resilient society, not only within our built environment but within the social, political and economical systems that govern our societies. Understanding how the Japanese community formed an informal network to sustain themselves, as the large systems and infrastructure they typically relied on fell apart, may give us great insight into the possibilities of creating a more adaptable and disaster ready modern society.
