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Restoration of Lifeline supply in the Great East Japan Earthquake — Time taken to restore Electricity, Hydro (Water supply) and Gas


The lifelines such as electricity, hydro, and gas in tsunami affected areas were heavily interrupted for a long period of time. This report shows the number of household that its lifelines (electricity, hydro, gas) were heavily affected for a several months since the earthquake. The data was collected from Iwate prefecture, Miyagi prefecture, and Fukushima prefecture.

1. Power outage
March 13th 2011, 2days after the earthquake has stricken, the number of household were over 3 million; however the number of affected household decreased to 400,000 after 1 week. Excluding the houses and buildings that were collapsed or washed away due to the tsunami or some remote areas in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, the restoration process was nearly completed in most of the houses by middle of May.

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fig.1 The number of Power outage in Tohoku district

2. Water stoppage
More than 700,000 households were affected 1 week after the earthquake and the approximately 200,000 households are still affected as of April. There are approximately 20,000 households in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures have not been restored, and 3000 households in Fukushima has been counted as of the end of 2011. This is a result from mainly the houses and buildings that were washed away and collapsed that it is impossible to restore.

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fig.2 The number of Water stoppage in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Pref.

3. Gas stoppage
The report excludes the houses that are unable to restore. More than 400,000 houses are affected in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima prefectures as of March 15th; however the process of restore has been improving day by day. Excluding the houses that are unable to restore, the most of the houses in Iwate prefecture have been restored as of April 12th; and the gas supplies for eligible households has become available in Fukushima prefecture as of April 16th. In Miyagi prefecture, where the most affected area, the restoring process has fully completed as of May 4th.

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fig.3 The number of Gas stoppage in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Pref.