東京大学名誉教授

平田 直

Naoshi Hirata

Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo
Chairman of the Disaster Prevention Education
Promotion Association

 

理学博士
東京大学理学部卒・理学系研究科修士課程修了、同科博士課程退学。理学博士（昭和60年、東京大学大学院）。東京大学理学部助手、千葉大学理学部助教授、東京大学地震研究所助教授、同教授、同所長、同地震予知研究センター長、国立研究開発法人防災科学技術研究所参与・首都圏レジリエンス研究推進センター長（～令和2年3月）を経て、現在東京大学名誉教授。専門は地震学・地震防災。首都直下地震や南海トラフ地震などの巨大地震の解明とともに、被災した都市機能の回復についての研究を行う一方で、一般社団法人防災教育普及協会会長を務める等、防災教育にも取り組む。平成7年兵庫県南部地震の大規模余震観測や、首都圏に約300か所の地震計を設置した観測網（首都圏地震観測網、MeSO-net）の構築など、観測地震学に貢献した。政府の地震調査研究推進本部・地震調査委員会委員長、気象庁・南海トラフ地震に関する評価検討会会長、東京都防災会議地震部会長他政府・自治体の委員を務める。日本学術会議連携会委員（平成23年～）。平成27年防災功労者防災担当大臣表彰、平成29年防災功労者内閣総理大臣表彰受賞。著書：平田直、首都直下地震、岩波書店、2016年；平田直・佐竹健治・目黒公郎・畑村洋太郎, 巨大地震・巨大津波　－東日本大震災の検証-, 朝倉書店, 2011他。

Dr. Hirata graduated from the Faculty of Science at the University of Tokyo and completed the master’s program at the University’s Graduate School of Science before withdrawing from its doctoral program. He is a Doctor of Science (1985, University of Tokyo Graduate School). He has served as Assistant at the Faculty of Science, the University of Tokyo; Associate Professor at the Faculty of Science, Chiba University; Associate Professor, Professor, and Director of the Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo; Director of the Institute’s Earthquake Prediction Research Center; Advisor of the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience; and Director of the Metropolitan Area Resilience Research Promotion Center (until March 2020). He is currently a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.
Specializing in seismology and earthquake disaster prevention, Dr. Hirata conducts research on the understanding of mega-earthquakes such as the large earthquake expected to hit the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Nankai Trough Earthquake, as well as the recovery of urban functions that have been affected by disaster. He also works for disaster prevention education, including serving as chairman of the Disaster Prevention Education Association .
Dr. Hirata has contributed to observational seismology, including observing the large-scale aftershocks of the 1995 Southern Hyogo Prefecture Earthquake and building an observation network (Metropolitan Area Earthquake Observation Network, MeSO-net) with approximately 300 seismometers installed in the Tokyo metropolitan area. He holds posts in numerous national and local government committees, such as chairman of the Earthquake Research Committee of the government's Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, chairman of the Nankai Trough Earthquake Evaluation Committee of the Japan Meteorological Agency, and chairman of the Earthquake Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Disaster Prevention Council. He is a member of the Science Council of Japan Cooperation Committee (from 2011).
He received the Minister of Disaster Management Award for Disaster Prevention in 2015 and the Prime Minister's Award for Disaster Prevention in 2017. He has also written books including Shuto Chokka Jishin (Earthquake Directly Beneath the Capital), Iwanami Shoten, 2016, and Kyodai Jishin, Kyodai Tsunami (Huge Earthquake and Huge Tsunami): Examination of the Great East Japan Earthquake, (co-authored with Kenji Satake, Kimiro Meguro, and Yotaro Hatamura), Asakura Shoten, 2011.