From 5th ~ 15th of September
2017, we had Tokyo University and Australian National University International
Excursion on Earth and Planetary Environment. 15 students from Australian
National University came over to Japan to study and understand the geological
hazards.
Day1-2 @Kashiwa
Day1-2 @Kashiwa
Day1: Greetings, AORI walking tour, and Welcome Party
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[顔合わせ、ここからはANUとU Tokyoの学生の混合グループで行動しました。]
[Introducing each other. From this day forward, students from ANU and U Tokyo were divided into 5 mixed groups]
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| [AORI tourの風景、学生達にAMSの説明をする横山先生][AORI walking tour with Prof. Yokoyama, explaining the AMS facility to students.] |
Other than the AMS facility, we also looked at the
breeding facility of marine biology.
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[歓迎会、皆さん緊張しています。]
[Welcome Party]
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On day 1, we met 15 students and a professor from ANU.
When we first met, we were all nervous to see new people with having some
language barriers. However, after spending few hours of ice breaking sessions,
we slowly started to know each other more and more.
Day2: Lecture day (from Prof. Yoshio Takahashi, Prof.
Phil Cummins, Prof. Satake, Stephen Obrochta, Ryoji Sato)
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[Geohazardsに関する講義を受ける学生たち]
[Students learning many types of Geohazards through lectures]
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[“What’s Consciousness?” 科学哲学の講義を英語でディスカッションする学生たち]
[What is Consciousness? Is Earth conscious? Some deep discussions on scientific philosophy.]
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On day 2, we had some lectures from Prof. Yoshio
Takahashi, Prof. Phil Cummins, Prof. Satake, Doc. Stephen Obrochta, and Project
Assistant Professor. Ryoji Sato. All lectures helped us to understand the
concepts of geohazards, and they were all necessary to be well understood
before going to the field trip and see the actual sights.
Day3-5 @Tohoku region
Day3-5 @Tohoku region
Day3: Visit to Tohoku University Onagawa field centre
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[女川にて、津波が来た時の心得が書かれた碑石（左）、津波のパワーを物語る、なぎ倒されたフェンスのポール（右）]
[At Onagawa town, monument with writings of what should and shouldn’t do at the event of Tsunami (image on the left). Fences that were bent by the force of Tsunami (image on the right)]
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Onagawa field centre which research about the marine
biology in Tohoku region is a property of Tohoku University. However, the
facility was destroyed by the Tsunami event in 2011. We visited the new Onagawa
field centre that was reconstructed at the same location.
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[女川町の病院前にて、柱の左上、赤い線が津波のライン]
[At Onagawa Hospital on a hill. The red line on the pillar indicates the height of the Tsunami wave at this location]
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Tsunami easily reached above our head. Surprisingly,
this hospital is on a relatively high hill, which suggests that the Tsunami was
unimaginably high.
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[夜、宿にて、1日を振り返るReflection Diaryを話し合って書いている学生たち]
[Discussion night]
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Each day on the field trip, we wrote a group diary to
reflect on what we saw and learnt that day. We were quite depressed after
seeing many sights that were destroyed by the Tsunami and the earthquake, but
we also knew that to visit, to see with our own eyes, and to listen to what
people actually experienced are highly important. Seeing is believing.
Day4:
Visit Karakuwa visitor centre (Tsunami-ishi guided tour), Iwanuma library (Geo
slicer)
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[唐桑町にて、神の倉の津波石]
[At Karakuwa town, visit to Tsunami rock of Kami-no-Kura]
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We have visited the Karakuwa town’s Tsunami rock of
Kami-no-Kura. This rock was carried from somewhere in this bay by the strong
force of Tsunami on 3.11.
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[岩沼市民図書館2階にて、展示されたジオスライサーの説明をする横山先生、最上層に見られるのが東北大震災の津波堆積物]
[At Iwanuma public library, Prof. Yokoyama explaining the Geoslicer.]
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When we visited the Iwanuma public library, we saw a display
of Geoslicer which indicates many geological events such as the tsunami
deposits and volcanic tephra including the latest Tsunami event (3.11) at the
top.
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[併設された郷土博物館で展示物を英語でANUの学生に説明するU-Tokyoの学生]
[At the folk museum nearby, U Tokyo student explaining what’s on the display to students from ANU]
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Day5: Visit to Yuriage Natori city, Arahama elementary
school, Nakahama elementary school
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[名取市閖上の日和山、この高台も津波で完全に水没した]
[Hiyori Mountain at Natori city. This hill was completely submerged under the water when the Tsunami struck the city]
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People who tried to evacuate from the Tsunami by
climbing up the Hiyori mountain lost their lives since it was not high enough
to save them from the violence by the water.
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[津波によって破壊された荒浜小学校の2階ベランダ]
[At Arahama elementary school. Fences at first floor is destroyed by the water]
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At
Arahama elementary school, the ground floor and 40 cm above of the first floor was
submerged under the water carried by the Tsunami. Classrooms on such floors were
full of debris like cars and trees. After 3 hours since the evacuation, an
emergency helicopter started to rescue the students one by one from the rooftop.
It took over 24 hours to take everyone off from the rooftop, and it began to
snow while they were waiting to be rescued. It was lucky that they did not
evacuate to the gymnastic building which was located right next to this
elementary school. As it was completely destroyed by the Tsunami.
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[中浜小学校にて、たまたまいらっしゃった震災当時の校長先生の話を聞く学生達]
[At Nakahama elementary school, listening to what the school principle experienced when the Tsunami struck]
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[2階天井まで津波に襲われた中浜小学校の下駄箱スペース]
[The Tsunami reached to the sealing of first floor]
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When the Tsunami warning was released, principle of the
Nakahama elementary school decided not to follow the evacuation plan they
previously had, which was to evacuate to one of the other schools across the
town. He thought that rather than taking 100 students on blocky roads that were
destroyed by the earthquake, it is safer to let them stay at school and
evacuate up in the attic. This brave decision making saved all the student’s lives.
Day6 @Kanagawa
Day6 @Kanagawa
Day6 : Free day, visit Kamakura
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[自由行動日、鎌倉を訪れるANUとU Tokyoの生徒たち]
[Free day, some students visited Kamakura]
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Some of the students visited one of the Japanese old capital
city Kamakura.
