Implicaciones del tsunami de Tohoku del a？o 2011 para la gestión de desastres naturales en Japón

on march 11th 2011, a large earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the richter scale occurred offshore the northeast coast of japan, generating a major tsunami which devastated large parts of japan's north-eastern coastline. the "great eastern japan earthquake and tsunami" has been described as one in several thousand years event, and as a consequence it is necessary that the revising of the philosophy behind coastal disaster management in japan take into account the lessons learned from this latest disaster. in this article, the authors present the results of their field surveys in the tohoku area, describing the damage in various places and analysing the failure mechanism of a variety of coastal structures. the authors also present some changes that are currently occurring in the risk management philosophy in japan. essentially, the idea that infrastructure measures can always protect against the loss of life has been discarded, and although they can play a part in the protection of property ultimately planification measures should be the cornerstone of the strategy to protect people's lives in coastal areas.