Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan
A Personal Perspective
Dr. Tatsuo Kurokawa
t was a lazy, still chilly
afternoon. I was at home
preparing a lecture for the
I was even starting to think this
earthquake could not be that serious
since there were more than several
seconds between the vertical and
horizontal shakings, which indicates
the epicenter is likely rather distant.
But I was totally wrong. The
horizontal shake that followed was as
powerful as I had never experienced
in my life, which would have been a
5 on a Japanese quake scale. It was
almost impossible to keep standing
in my home, as its wooden frame
shook, throwing boxes and bottles
off shelves. It lasted an entire three
minutes.
I
for pharmaceutical companies.
Without exception, all sales
offices in Sendai city, the center
of the region, were hit by strong
shakings from the 9.0 magnitude
quake. Damage to buildings and
infrastructure was followed by a
prolonged loss of electricity, water
supply, transportation modes,
telecommunications including
cell phones, and other so-called
“life lines.” Live video footage of
massive tsunami swallowing towns
and the subsequent explosions at
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power
plant horrified everyone who could
possibly imagine what was befalling
the people of the region.
The March 11 earthquake and
tsunami in East Japan killed nearly
15,000 people, and 11,000 are
still missing. Much of the coastal
and inland areas of northeastern
Japan were destroyed. Japanese
medical care and related industries
suffered serious damage and are
still struggling to recover with
an enormous effort spanning
widespread resources. Northeastern
Japan was home to many sales
offices, a number of distribution
centers, and production facilities
People working for the
pharmaceutical and related industry
immediately thought of the safety
of their employees. But, at the
same time, they worried about
hemodialysis patients and diabetes
patients who need regular, essential
medical treatment. The continuation
of hemodialysis was expected to face
major obstacles because of power
blackouts that were widespread
over the prefecture, as well as the
lack of transportation. According to
media reports, some patients were
transferred by helicopter to remote
hospitals to receive the necessary
medical care.
to halt, because it needs massive
transportation support in addition
to being manufactured in a sterile
environment. In anticipation of
possible natural disasters and to
prepare against risks of damage, Fuso
Pharmaceutical Industries, one of
the major manufacturers of large-volume parenteral drugs including
fluid for hemodialysis, had built its
production facilities in two locations
far apart from each other– Osaka
city and north Ibaragi. It reported on
its homepage that its north Ibaragi
factory was severely damaged, but
the company essentially survived
during this difficult time in terms
of drug supply. A number of
pharmaceutical companies had taken
similar precautionary policies for
production site locations, but the
damage to the production capacity
was reported as extremely serious.
There was also the problem of
providing care for patients who were
unable to move on their own. The
administration of parenteral fluids
for hemodialysis was almost certain
to run into serious problems within
several days, if production were
Secondary damage also set off
inconveniences unimaginable under
normal circumstances. Prolonged
and/or unpredictable power
shortages caused contamination to
the sterile drug-production even at
facilities that had luckily survived
physical damage; halted cooling led
to discarding finished drugs; and the
disruption of fermenting and other
chemical reactions led to damage
to equipment at the facilities. Some
warehouses for pharmaceuticals,
which are usually high-rise rack
types controlled by computers, could
not start their operations even after
the restoration of electricity because
of the droppage of containers and
distortion of railings for elevators.
In research and development,
