Ethnic diversity and natural disaster mortality: evidence from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami

This study uses community-level mortality data on the 2011 Tohoku tsunami to explore the relationship between ethnic diversity and disaster mortality. The results show that ethnic fragmentation has little impact on tsunami mortality. An examination of fatalities categorized by 10-year age group, however, demonstrates that fragmentation is negatively correlated with mortality in extremely vulnerable populations, specifically those aged 9 years old or under and 80 years old or over. This result suggests that development of community-based evacuation measures may protect extremely vulnerable age groups in ethnically diversified communities.