An Advanced Real-Time Earthquake Information System in Japan

Abstract:

J-RISQ (Japan Real-time Information System for earthquake) has been developing in NIED for appropriate first-actions to big earthquakes. When an earthquake occurs, seismic intensities (SI) are calculated first at each observation station and sent to the Data Management Center in different timing. The system begins the first estimation when the number of the stations observing the SI of 2.5 or larger exceeds the threshold amount. It estimates SI distribution, exposed population and earthquake damage on buildings by using basic data for estimation, such as subsurface amplification factors, population, and building information. It has been accumulated in J-SHIS (Japan Seismic Information Station) developed by NIED, a public portal for seismic hazard information across Japan. The series of the estimation is performed for each 250m square mesh and finally the estimated data is converted into information for each municipality. Since October 2013, we have opened estimated SI, exposed population etc. to the public through the website by making full use of maps and tables.

In the previous system, we sometimes could not inspect the information of the surrounding areas out of the range suffered from strong motions, or the details of the focusing areas, and could not confirm whether the present information was the latest or not without accessing the website. J-RISQ has been advanced by introducing the following functions to settle those problems and promote utilization in local areas or in personal levels. In addition, the website in English has been released.

・It has become possible to focus on the specific areas and inspect enlarged information.

・The estimated information can be downloaded in the form of KML.

・The estimated information can be updated automatically and be provided as the latest one.

・The newest information can be inspected by using RSS readers or browsers corresponding to RSS.

・Exclusive pages for smartphones have been prepared.

The information estimated by the advanced J-RISQ has been open since June 2015. The system is planned to be enhanced by improving estimation methods of earthquake motions, or models of population distribution.

This research was partially supported by SIP (Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program) under the leadership of Cabinet Office, Government of Japan.