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Part 2: Car Evacuation Risks (2) Blocked off / Closed railroad crossings, halted traffic

A railroad crossing in Yamamoto Town, Miyagi Prefecture. The boom gates were lifted by hand, allowing vehicles to continue through (Illustration by Michino Kuriki)
As a cloud of dust rose from the advancing tsunami, the signal light continued flashing red at the Tsurushi-kaido railroad crossing, south of JR Shinchi Station = March 11, 2011 (Image provided by Shinchi Town, Fukushima Prefecture)

Immediately following the Great East Japan Earthquake, the boom gates of railroad crossings were locked down, preventing evacuating vehicles from passing through. Traffic congestion arose at these crossings, forcing evacuees to face two dangers: the tsunami and incoming trains.

Ding-dong, Ding-dong...The warning signals continued ringing.

March 11, 2011, the Minami Doronuma railway crossing of the JR Joban Line at Yamadera, Yamamoto Town, Miyagi Prefecture. Tadahiro Higuchi (47), a transportation industry worker from Izumi Ward, Sendai City, stopped his four-ton truck. The red light was blinking, and the boom gates were closed. Dozens of meters north, a 20-car inbound freight train sat immobile.

Higuchi waited five minutes or so, but the train showed no signs of moving. He stepped out of his truck and called out to the tank truck driver behind him, “It’s not opening, huh.”

“If the tsunami comes, we have to abandon our cars and escape,” the driver replied. “What?” Higuchi did not realize a major tsunami warning had been issued. His head was spinning with anxiety. More than 10 cars were already lined up behind him.

The train operator walked up to the crossing. “I can’t contact my company so I’m unable to open the bars,” he said, and returned back to his train. Higuchi felt uneasy. There were a total of four rods blocking the path, and time was passing by.

Three to four drivers, including Higuchi, began removing the gates. “Hey, it’s turning!” They rotated the rods and pulled out three of them. However, the last one would not budge.

A nearby man had the sense to push up the bar with his hands, saying, “Go on while I hold this.” Higuchi and the cars behind him drove through the crossing.

Shortly after, the muddy waters flooded the tracks.

At the time of the main shock, there were 21 trains operating in the coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures. Even with the external power supplies down, railroad crossings in front of the trains continued sounding warning signals via internal batteries. After the trains made emergency stops, railroad crossings several hundred meters to a kilometer ahead of them closed the gates and remained shut.

At that time, Kiyomi Ota (49), a temporary worker at the Shinchi Town Hall, Fukushima Prefecture, was driving fast to her seaside home in the Tsurushi district, where her three children waited.

On the way, she found the Tsurushi-kaido railroad crossing south of the JR Shinchi Station closed. The inbound train was stopped at the station.

On the opposite side of the crossing, Ota saw many acquaintances in their vehicles. She stepped out of her car and lifted up the rod. It was heavy. She let a number of cars pass through, until a man replaced her and she was able to pass through herself.

By the time she returned to the railroad crossing after picking up her children, the line of cars had stretched 400 meters. It’s impossible, she thought, and pulled a U-turn to go through a crossing behind the train. From higher ground, she saw the village and tracks being flooded by the tsunami.

33 people in the Tsurushi district lost their lives to the tsunami. Ota later heard that the cars of some victims were found near the railroad crossing that was swallowed in the waves.

◎Conflict between car and train evacuations / Delayed installment of multi-level crossings

Several railroad crossings also closed down during the aftershock on December 7, 2012, which had a maximum seismic intensity of 5-lower.

“There was a tsunami warning! Go lift the gates quickly!” It was 5:22 p.m., four minutes after the aftershock. In Yawata, Tagajo City, construction firm owner Yuji Ban (40) heard the warning on the company radio, and gave orders to his staff.

The Yawata railroad crossing on the nearby JR Senseki Line had closed, and vehicles were in bumper-to-bumper traffic from National Route 45. The area had a traffic jam during the 2011 earthquake as well, and was hit by a tsunami more than one meter high.

The company staff lifted the four rods of the boom gates, and fastened them to pillars using a rope they brought from the office. “Lives will be saved this way.” Ban drove through the crossing under the flashing red lights and continuing warning signals.

Near the Yawata crossing, auto supply shop employee Akifumi Ebina (23) was guiding cars and pedestrians.

Looking to the outbound train that had made an emergency stop 100 meters ahead, he suddenly realized the lights were drawing closer.

“This will become a huge accident!” When Ebina ran over to the train, the operator yelled, “Why are there cars and pedestrians going through the crossing?”

In response to the tsunami warning, the operator was attempting to move the train and its 200 passengers to the elevated Tagajo Station. With the traffic passing through the Yawata railroad crossing, however, the train was unable to advance further. Ebina returned to the crossing and stopped the cars.

The train still did not move. The operator explained, “I have not received instructions from headquarters.” The drivers voiced their frustration. The cars in line began making U-turns, and by the time JR employees arrived at the crossing to guide traffic, the congestion had cleared up.

Railroad crossings had also prevented car evacuation from tsunamis during the Hokkaid? Toho-oki Earthquake (1994) and the Tokachi-oki Earthquake (2003).

Kazuhiro Igarashi, chief of the safety planning office at the JR-East Sendai branch, says, “We recognize the importance of the issue. However, it is possible that trains would evacuate to high ground or inland areas after an earthquake, so we cannot open the railroad crossings.”

The only drastic solution would be to remove railroad crossings altogether by building multi-level crossings of roads and railways. It is expected that there would be no railway crossings along relocated routes of the disaster-stricken Joban and Senseki Lines, which will instead be elevated or built along mountains. Progress is slow regarding railroad crossings in other disaster-stricken areas, as the cost of constructing elevated roads falls on road administrators such as local governments.

In March of last year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation & Tourism established a council to consider how to prevent traffic obstruction by railroad crossings. The debate focuses on dealing with earthquakes that occur directly under the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, and municipalities of disaster-stricken areas are not subject to discussion.

◎Difficulties of standardizing evacuation on expressways / Fears of inviting secondary disaster

During the disaster, entrances to the expressway interchanges were also shut down. Interchanges along the coast saved cars escaping from the tsunami by inviting them onto the expressways, raised on an embankment. However, the lessons learned that day have not resulted in a concrete policy change.

The East Nippon Expressway Company will close down interchange entrances if an earthquake with a seismic intensity of 5 is observed.

Accordingly, the Natori interchange on the Sendai-Tobu road closed their entrance on the day of the disaster. As the advancing tsunami submerged surrounding areas, they had around 130 evacuees climb onto the roofs of the toll booths. They also allowed evacuating cars, pleading for the entrance to be opened, onto the main road.

The Sendai Airport interchange saw the tsunami advancing from a distance, and opened their entrance as well. They were able to save around 15 vehicles by letting them onto the main highway. Both cases were based on the split second judgment of on-site staff.

The PR department states, “It ended up being a good decision, but we cannot revise our manual on the basis of these incidents.” A damaged road could lead to secondary disaster, similar to the elevated expressway collapsing after the Great Hanshin Earthquake (1995). There is also the fear that a large quantity of cars entering the road could inhibit the path of Self Defense Forces or ambulances.

According to the PR department, “There is no response that can be applied to all cases. We are internally investigating what we could do.”
During the 2011 earthquake, some residents were able to escape the tsunami by climbing up the slope of the expressway. Based on this knowledge, coastal expressways are being fitted with emergency staircases to allow on-foot evacuation.

Translated by Ben DeTora
February 1, 2013 (Fri.)

[Japanese] http://www.kahoku.co.jp/special/spe1114/20130201_01.html

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