How Super High-Rise Condominiums in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area Dealt With the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

This paper, based on questionnaire and interview survey, clarifies how super high-rise condominiums in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area dealt with the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011. Most super high-rise condominiums suffered elevator failures, and the residents crowded on the first floor soon after the earthquake. During the elevator downtime, some common facilities such as meeting rooms, lobbies and party rooms worked as places for temporary and overnight refuges. Such uses were necessarily not preliminarily expected.