Disaster Prevention in Records Management in Japan
| Pages | 43-46 |
| Published date | 01 February 1991 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb060902 |
| Date | 01 February 1991 |
| Author | Ogawa Yūjiro |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Disaster Prevention in Records Management
in Japan
Ogawa Yujiro
Japan.
A Territory Prone To Disasters
Because Japan is on the western extremity of the Pacific Ocean and on a
typhoon route, every year several typhoons strike and much flood damage is
suffered. Japan is also a country where earthquakes frequently occur. On a map
of the epicentres of earthquakes occurring in the world, so many occur in Japan
that its whereabouts can not be seen. The area of plains in Japan comes to not
much more than 10% of the total area, and since cities grow on the estuaries of
swift rivers, topographically too there is proneness to flood damage, and also to
damage from tidal waves. Since Japanese cities are densely populated and
wooden house building has been common since ancient times, as regards city
structure also there is typically
a
great danger of damage from fire. If the storage
of information in Japan, prone as it is to disasters in terms of meteorology,
geography and urban structures, does not take account of flood, fire and
earthquake damage, then storage policy can hardly be called adequate.
Concerning disaster prevention policy, in Japan, policies against each kind of
disaster are advanced, in the 1950s the Basic Law of Disaster Prevention was
enacted, and in the 1970s, the Large-Scale Earthquake Special Measures Law.
However, concerning disaster prevention policy for the historical cultural
heritage and for records and archival materials, when one looks, for example, at
disaster prevention policy in art galleries, museums, libraries, archives, etc.,
such policy in these areas cannot be said to be in an adequate state. Not only in
these institutions, but in administrative records management and records
management in private business too, conditions are the same.
The reason adduced for this is that the purpose of disaster prevention lies in
saving human life. Although in Section 35 of the Basic Disaster Prevention
Law "measures for the protection of cultural assets" are stipulated in one
clause to be emphasised, there is a tendency for disaster prevention policy in
matters not directly concerning human life to take a back seat.
Here I shall report on the present state and problems of disaster prevention
policy in the National Archives which carries out, as a specialty, public record
management, and offer an introduction to disaster prevention policy in
Japanese records management.
The Present Stale of Disaster Prevention Policy
There is a startling lack of public material on the present state of disaster
prevention policy in Japanese archives. I would like to describe here the state of
affairs in disaster prevention policy in Japanese archives on the basis of a
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