On March 11, 2011, the Eastern Japan earthquake measured intensity levels of up to 7 on the Japanese scale in Kurihara City, Miyagi Pref. Adjacent Tome City, home to Tome Murata Manufacturing, registered up to an upper 6, which caused local plants to shut down.
Learning from its experience in the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the 2007 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, Murata set internal quake-resistant standards for protection against earthquakes of intensity levels of up to an upper 6. According to these standards, quake-resistant measures were implemented for the buildings and facilities at all Murata sites in Japan in 2007.
The Eastern Japan earthquake did not affect the buildings and facilities at Tome Murata Manufacturing seriously. Damage to utility facilities, piping and wiring, which are indispensable for production, was successfully minimized.
The production equipment also survived this major natural disaster with no serious damage, as it was fixed to the ground in accordance with the internal quake-resistant standards. To protect employees from such earthquakes, Tome Murata Manufacturing also introduced an Earthquake Early Warning System in 2008. Since then this system has been utilized in periodical drills.
When the massive earthquake occurred in March, this system was activated to broadcast an alert within the company 5 seconds before the actual quake hit, helping employees to evacuate calmly.
After the earthquake, we faced extreme difficulties, including the interruption of utilities. However, the staff of partner construction companies, Tome Murata employees and assistant staff from the head office work together for restoration, allowing the company to resume part of its production in late March. In addition, relief materials transported from the head office were donated to Tome City to provide for local communities.
Following this recent natural disaster, Murata will continue to upgrade the traditional measures it has implemented in order to ensure business continuity against major earthquakes in the future.
