Urban Improvement Policies for Reducing Human Damage in a Large Earthquake by Using Wide-Area Evacuation Simulation Incorporating Rescue and Firefighting by Local Residents

In Japan, there are still many densely built-up wooden residential areas. For estimating the effects of specific measures for disaster mitigation, we utilize an agent-based simulation system, which can describe property damage (such as building-collapse, street-blockage, and fire-spread) and activities of local residents (including rescue, firefighting, and evacuation) in a large earthquake. More specifically, we compare the effects of the following policies of improving cities for reducing property and human damage (the number of burnt-down buildings and casualties): (1) installing fire-extinguishers for all households; (2) installing seismo-sensitive breakers for all households; and (3) improving specific streets and their roadside buildings.