The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011.
Seaside cities along the Pacific coast in the Tohoku district of Japan
were severely damaged by the resulting giant tsunami. Flooding
areas from tsunami spread out along the coastal line. Fig. 1 shows
the location of tsunami disaster in mainly Tohoku District of Japan
and two investigated areas of both Sendai city and Ishinomaki city
in this paper. The length of water damaged areas by giant tsunami
was approximately 480 km in Tohoku District. The giant tsunami
inundated coastal areas with a large volume of water, with flood
marks as high as 9.3 m. Japanese government reported that the
tsunami completely destroyed at least 129,483 houses and partially
destroyed 255,447 houses [1]. At least 35,945 houses sufferedwater
damage, including 20,432 homes flooded above first floor level.
These houses were not destroyed structurally and occupants could
continue to live in their own house after flooding from tsunami. It
was expected that after flooding the long-term presence of water in
crawl spaces and wall cavities of water-damaged homes would
have caused elevated humidity and fungal contamination, with
potential implications for affecting the health of occupants.
Epidemiological research in Sweden (DBH) reported that there is an
association between allergic symptoms and dampness [28].
Building dampness and mouldy indoor environments are associated
with the increase of approximately 30e50% in variety of respiratory
and asthma-related health outcomes through a metaanalysis
[29]. IOM provided the current authoritative source of information
about damp indoor spaces and health in 2004 [36]. It is
said that the indoor state of high humidity is a big risk factor to