INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF HO CHI MINH CITY

Extended Essay
How Could Technology Have Been Used Before And After The Tsunami In Japan?
Rose Dominic 8/16/2012

Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2

IT BACKGROUND AND SYSTEM ................................................................................................. 3

i.

Functioning Of Social Networking Sites and Space Technology ................ 3

Social And Ethical Issue ............................................................................................................. 4

i. ii.

Globalization and Cultural Diversity Reliabiity and Integrity People and Machines

iii.

Problems and Solutions Related To the Concern..................................................................... 5

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 7

Bibliography............................................................................................................................... 8

Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 9

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INTRODUCTION
As technology is becoming more and more advanced it is more important to know and understand how different technology works and how can it be used during emergencies such as natural disasters. Technology plays an important role before, during and after natural disasters. But it is not advisable to use technology during natural disasters as it is dangerous. The tsunami that broke out in Japan can be used to investigate How could technology have been used before and after natural disasters? This is an important research question because it allows the exploring of technology that can be used before and after natural disasters. This is because it is crucial to know what to do in the event of a natural disaster. It is not possible to avoid natural disasters so we need to take effective measures for those and people and scientists rely on technology to help them. People also rely on technology in the aftermath of natural disasters to help in finding people and counting how many are lost, dead and are needed to be found. We know that natural disasters are a natural process of earth when the plate tectonics move. The pain and sufferings caused by the tsunami in Japan can be reduced by creating proper awareness of the disaster and developing a suitable warning system by the use of technology tools. People have started to live a different kind of life and diminishing the importance of the geographical, political, economic and cultural backgrounds of the earth. People have started building apartments, houses, offices; parks etc. in disaster prone areas thinking that the risk of natural disasters have vanished and will never come back. They only think that natural disasters take place only where there are mountains; the place is surrounded by water and so on. People think that there will be no more natural disasters. Humans forget the need to be safe from natural disasters and take the necessary precautions to be safe. But as the world is globalizing people are forgetting the natural disasters and thinking that all the natural disasters are gone and will never come back. The social and ethical issue related to this problem is globalization and cultural diversity. The data that we get from space ships should be accurate enough for us to prepare for the incoming natural disaster. This then refers to the reliability and integrity which is a social and ethical issue which refers to the operation of the software, the accuracy of the data or the correspondence of the data to the real world. People and machines refer to the use of IT systems. This essay investigates the use of technology before and after the tsunami in Japan.

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IT BACKGROUND AND SYSTEM

The growing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are always playing a central role during the time of natural disasters. In Japans earthquake, Facebook first plotted the rapid spread of news across the world two hours after the tsunami that occurred. People in Japan have their own social networking site called Mixi which is just like Facebook. Facebook and Mixi have a lot of differences. Facebook is used to communicate with friends, posting information and updating information. While Mixi is used to communicate with friends you can also communicate with people who you dont know and add topics and issues and communicate with them. The people in Japan who uses Mixi create a topic and can have discussions and it eases communication and people know about each persons life situation. We can compare the earthquake that occurred in Japan in 1995 and we can see that there were no such kinds of communications. So, as we can find in this century that technology is developing and it is easier to communicate with the people to find out if they are alive or not and find out what situation they are in. In the earthquake that occurred in 1995 people could only donate for the cause. Now we can find information through social networking sites and we can also lend our hands to help those who are stuck in natural disasters. Google person finder is another software tool launched by Google. Google launched different kinds of person finders so that people can find and tell whoever is lost or not in natural disasters. Google launched a Japanese version of Person Finder to help victims locate one another. As known it is impossible to avoid natural disasters. The changing patterns of natural disasters have opened up a large number of scientific researches going on and making available resources and skills on how to reduce the risk of natural disasters. [2] Another kind of technology that can be used before natural disasters is space technology as it helps authorities to warn the people of the incoming natural disaster. Space technology helps in the forecasting of natural disasters.

FUNCTIONING OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES AND SPACE TECHNOLOGY

The Google Person Finder allows people to inquire about missing person or provide information for lost people. The Google Person Finder acts as a message manual and message board so that the people in Japan during the time that the tsunami struck can look for lost members or post a note saying that they are safe. Google Person Finder was developed to solve the problem of finding out missing people or evacuated people that is common in the aftermath of natural disasters. Google Person Finder proved to be useful after natural disasters as it helped people stay in direct touch with each other. Google Person Finder reached its success only during the Japan Earthquake and it was not a successful tool during the Haiti earthquake. The setup that they used was that there were two links that the users could choose from the Google Person Finder (Japanese Version) and the users could choose either I am looking for someone or I have information about someone and the person enters the relevant information. The Google Person Finder used in Japan is still running. It has about 306,600 records. Facebook is another tool that helped during the tsunami that struck in Japan. It is a social networking site and was launched in February 2004. Facebook is the only social networking site that

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recorded that rapid spread of news across the world two hours after the tsunami had struck. Whenever a natural disaster is hit status reports and updates are instantly posted on Facebook and different pages for donation are also setup. Facebook acts as a friend in the time of natural disasters as it helps people to post up their status, what they are doing, where they are etc. The reason is that during the times of natural disasters Facebook has proven essential not only for the community but also to emergency officials. The emergency officials in all natural disasters said that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter should not be used as a primary source of information but only as a tool to get information. Information written in social networking sites spreads so quickly just as a virus spreads. So in this case officials need to check the information and see if it is reliable enough and also check other secondary sources of information. As social networks and mobile technology continue to grow and be part of our lives, emergency officials hope to keep finding ways to reach the public. Looking at all these facts we can see that social network and technology arent simple toys to play or connect with your friends but a valuable tool in times of natural disasters. Social media: Provide valuable information to those in a disaster area before and after natural disaster via Internet if available or by SMS updates. Drives awareness to those outside the affected areas, generating volunteers and/or donors. It connects far away family members and friends. It provides information about unclaimed property and in worst case dead bodies. Offers information about aid, centers and other resources available to those affected.

The changing patterns have opened up a large number of scientific and technological resources and skills to reduce disaster risk. [2] Another kind of technology that can be used before a natural disaster is space technology. Space technology helps in forecasting natural disasters. The spatial information refers to the data collected by remote sensing and Global Positioning System. Experts believe that the knowledge received by GPS and remote sensing devices is important for decision making that are needed for the latest reliable information about natural disasters, when it is going to strike and choosing the best methods to deal with the disaster.[1] This might save some amount of lives and prevent a loss in that place. Technology cannot be used during natural disasters. But technology is really useful when it comes in the aftermath of the disaster. Lack of awareness of natural disasters could lead to future problems, just like the tsunami that occurred in Japan. Space technology in a way is useful. As said above it can help in the forecasting of the natural disaster, when it is going to hit the coast, which all places are affected.

SOCIAL AND ETHICAL ISSUE

As mentioned in the introduction the social and ethical issues related to this concern is Globalization and Cultural Diversity, Reliability and Integrity and People and Machines. Globalization means the diminishing importance of geographical, political, economic and cultural backgrounds. Information Technology has played an important role in reducing these boundaries. For example any dramatic event anywhere in the world can be broadcasted instantly by television or by the internet. People rely on technology for their own needs. Like for instance if a person who

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wants to travel from Vietnam to the US (and he/she has not gone there) the person goes to the internet and looks for information about that particular place, books tickets online and does not walk to the ticket office which is near to the house, calls taxi or rent a vehicle online. These factors show that people are depending on technology as if technology is their home. People are forgetting about natural disasters. They think that with technology in a way we can prevent all kinds of natural disasters. We can try to prevent manmade disasters but not natural disasters as it come from the Mother Earth. Is it possible to use technology to avoid natural disasters? I dont think so. Technology is good and we can rely on it but it should not be used badly, thinking technology and science can prevent natural disasters. Reliability refers to the operation of the hardware, the design of the software, the accuracy of the data or the correspondence of data with the real world. Data may be unreliable if it has been entered incorrectly or if it becomes outdated. The reliability of machines, software and data determines our confidence in their value. Integrity refers to the safeguarding the accuracy and completeness of the stored data. Data lacks of the integrity when it has been changed accidentally or tampered with. Examples of data losing integrity are when the information is duplicated in a relational database and only one copy is updated or where data entries have been maliciously altered. Scientists and people rely on technology to collect data about natural disasters, learning the weather patterns and then recording the data and predicting the weather, the time of disaster, is it disastrous or not. We as humans make mistakes and we cannot know if we predicted right or not. So how can you find if the data is reliable or not and how do you find if the source is reliable or not? As said before data becomes unreliable if it has been entered incorrectly or it has been outdated. People and machines refer to the use of IT system. It talks about how people handle machines and how they use it when they are in need of emergency. The use of IT systems bring significant advantages, for instance in ease of, being available 24/7 or through its use rather than exposing humans to a potentially hazardous environment. However this can raise concerns about the rate at which technology is being introduced and issues that may arise from insufficient testing in critical situations such as air traffic control. The ultimate fear of many people is that future systems will be programmed to make decisions that would be better taken by humans. There also social impacts such as internet addiction where people feel that they can never get away from IT and are trapped. However People and machines refer to the use of IT when it is in time of emergency. Nowadays almost everyone knows how to use the Internet, Phones, Computer, Laptop etc. and any other electrical equipment. So people are growing in a century of Information where people learn about new things and try to apply. So, when in time of natural disasters people know how to find lost people, dead people or even post a note in a social networking site telling if they are safe or not.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS RELATED TO THE CONCERN

As people are growing they now know more about lots of things. In this case problem(s) that arises is that as people think that there are no more natural disasters due to globalization. Is it true there are never going to be natural disasters? is the question that each person should ask themselves if they think that natural disasters wont occur. Long time before all continents were all joined up together which is known as the Pangaea. The Earth also has movements. Whenever you feel an earthquake the plate tectonics are moving. The earthquake occurs because either the two crusts

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meet each other or the two crusts slide over one another. So it is not possible to say that there would be no more earthquakes. This would mean teaching the people about the basic concepts of plate tectonics and give them awareness lessons about how to deal with the natural disaster before, during and after natural disasters. Every natural disaster has one or more safety measures that each human need to take if they are living in a disaster prone area or near to a disaster prone area. People also should be ready to evacuate even in a non disaster prone area as earthquakes and tsunamis can also occur just like the one that occurred in Sumatra. Sumatra was place which was a non disaster prone area. So awareness lessons are important. It is a known fact that natural disasters strike countries, both developed and developing causing enormous destruction and creating human sufferings and producing negative impacts on national economies. Due to the varied geo climatic conditions widespread in different parts of the globe, different types of natural disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, volcanoes, etc. strikes according to the vulnerability of the area. [3] Technology is not used properly or it is lacked in countries which are poor or cannot afford as it is costly. People mistake technology as the savior of their lives. For example lets think that a natural disaster is hitting a place, people are told to evacuate before and they do not because as their country uses a lot of technology they think that technology can help them. Is this true? Not all countries have technology to help them know when or where a natural disaster is occurring and in some countries they do not know what a natural disaster is or does not know any information about it. Then why do people still think that technology is their God and it can help you out. Technology is there to help you in a good sense by giving you warning or shows a satellite picture of the weather patterns, cycle and of the earth it is our duty to listen to that and take the appropriate measures. This means that you cannot blame the government, weather agencies and not even technology. Looking and comparing the facilities of developing and developed countries we can see in front of these two types of countries that developed countries have more of a chance to save lots of people than developing countries because they have better facilities. But what happened in Japan, they had lots of technology tools and they knew that there was going to be a huge tsunami, then why did people go on missing, lost and dead? It sounds weird. The people when hearing that their country was going to be struck by tsunami that would have a magnitude in the Richter scale of 8.9, should have heeded the message and should have started evacuation fast enough and cleared from the coastal areas, as there would be more damages there than the inside the country. Coasts should have evacuated quick enough, so that there would be less death or missing people. The awareness and warning systems should be improved all across the globe. This is important as it would make things much easier for the authorities and the people. Once they know about the natural disaster they would gain the knowledge about the consequences of the natural disaster and they would evacuate quick enough when it is time for the natural disaster. Awareness is important as people need to know the basic information about natural disasters and this might help people and they can understand. Just like giving awareness lessons to people the authorities should build up a suitable warning system so that they can warn the people of the incoming natural disaster and this might help them in the evacuation. Awareness and warning systems help a lot in the helping and evacuating of people living next to the disaster prone area.

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CONCLUSION

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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APPENDIX

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