Validation of an ontology of risk and disaster through a case study of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake

This paper seeks to validate a factual ontology derived from an ontology of the domain of risk and catastrophe (Provitolo, Muller, Dubos-Paillard, 2009). The factual ontology is that part describing the structure and dynamics of the system, that is, the representation of an event and of on what it has a bearing. The objective is to show that the ontology is able to account for and allow comparison between complex stories (because of the diversity of event types and of their multi-scale description). The event used as the basis for validation of the ontology is the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The account is that of P. Hadfield (1991) that provides a detailed description of the earthquake. Judgements by the actors involved of the system elements and events are excluded from this exercise, which is a first stage in validating the ontology.

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