自然外力の変化に伴う最近の災害の特徴と今後の研究開発の展望

摘要

In Japan, the frequency of the concentrated downpour has increased lately, and further there occur large earthquakes frequently. Quite recently, a massive earthquake occurred on 1 lth March, off the Pacific coast of the Tohoku area, causing devastating damages. On account of such natural disasters, damage scale along railways has become large and its damage modes have been diversifying at the same time. Therefore, at first, this paper explains about circumstances of climate change, and introduces features of natural disasters corresponding to such changes. Moreover, this paper shows the recent state and the future prospects of the research and development in the disaster prevention technological field in Japan.%安全でかつ安定した輸送の提供が求められている鉄道は，開業以来自然災害を経験し，これを克服して更なる安全・安定輸送を目指した努力を続けてきた。この成果として，近年の鉄道の災害発生件数は減少している。しかし，本年3月11日に発生した東北地方太平洋沖地震は，鉄道のみならず社会全般に甚大な被害をもたらした。