One year after the Tohoku-oki earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011, many coastal communities in Japan's Tohoku region show little progress in rebuilding. Yet as this paper explains, localities, along with affected prefectures and the national government, have been embroiled in a complex, iterative planning process that has involved scientific modeling of future tsunami risk scenarios, difficult decisions about future land uses and funding for reconstruction, and the creation of new polices, programs, and institutions. Taking time to plan conflicts with the urgency to rebuild, but it also provides an opportunity to reflect local needs and to coalesce on a shared vision for rebuilding. While Tohoku's future still remains uncertain, these planning efforts may ultimately lay the foundation for a successful and efficient recovery. Conversely, they may cause unnecessary delays that only exacerbated the region's already fragile economy and community well-being.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AleschD., ArendtL., and HollyJ., 2009. Managing for Long-term Community Recovery in the Aftermath of Disaster, Public Entity Risk Institute, Fairfax, VA.
2.
BerkeP. R., KartezJ., and WengerD., 1993. Recovery after disaster—Achieving sustainable development, mitigation, and equity, Disasters17, 93–109.
3.
BirklandT., 2006. Lessons of Disaster: Policy Change after Catastrophic Events, Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C., 240 pp.
4.
Building Standards Law, 1950. Chapter 6, Article 84: Building Moratoria in Disaster Affected Urban Areas, Government of Japan.
Cabinet Office, 2011b. Change in Number of Displaced Comparing between Great East Japan Earthquake, Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and Chuetsu Earthquake, Government of Japan, available at http://www.cao.go.jp/shien/1-hisaisha/pdf/5-hikaku.pdf (in Japanese).
8.
Central Disaster Prevention Council, 2011a. Meeting by the Technical Investigation Committee for Earthquake and Tsunami on Lessons from Tohoku region Pacific Coast Earthquake, No. 1, Technical Investigation Committee, Government of Japan, available at http://www.bousai.go.jp/jishin/chubou/higashinihon/1/index.html (in Japanese).
9.
Central Disaster Prevention Council, 2011b. 2011 East Japan Earthquake-Tsunami: Development of Tsunami Damage Function (Draft), Technical Investigation Committee, Government of Japan, available at www.bousai.go.jp/jishin/chubou/higashinihon/7/sub8.pdf (in Japanese).
GanapatiN. E., and GanapatiS., 2008. Enabling participatory planning after disasters: A case study of the World Bank's housing reconstruction in Turkey, Journal of the American Planning Association75, 41–59.
12.
HaasJ. E., BowdenM. J., and KatesR. W., 1977. Reconstruction Following Disaster, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 331 pp.
IuchiK., 2010. Redefining a Place to Live: Decisions, Planning Processes, and Outcomes of Resettlement after Disasters, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
15.
Iwate Nippo, 2011. Rikuzen-Takata City, City to rebuild by securing safety— revision may be needed by levee, Iwate Nippo, 26 September 2011, available at http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/311shinsai/fukkoplan/plan110926.html (last accessed 25 February 2012).
Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), 2012. Great East Japan Earthquake Series: Toward Higher Places: Relocation to Higher-Elevated Areas, Suffering of Minami Sanriku Town, televised 3 March 2012.
Kahoku Newspaper, 2012. Specialists are lacking as a result of policy reform - barriers to recovery in disaster affected local governments, Kahoku Newspaper, 19 February 2012, available at from http://www.kahoku.co.jp/spe/spe_sys1062/20120219_07.htm (in Japanese) (last accessed 19 February 2012; in Japanese).
23.
Kahoku Newspaper, 2011a. Levee construction/contesting arguments/reason for not giving it up, Kahoku Newspaper, 12 October 2011 (in Japanese).
24.
Kahoku Newspaper, 2011b. Miyagi Prefecture raises building moratoria today: Transiting to new restraint for recovery, Kahoku Newspaper, 11 November 2011, http://www.kahoku.co.jp/spe/spe_sys1071/20111110_01.htm (in Japanese).
Kensetsu Tsushin Newspaper, 2011. 49 earthquake-related projects, commissioned to such institutions as City Planning Association of Japan, investigations on field reconnaissance and recovery process, Kensetsu Tsushin, 30 May 2011, available at http://www.kensetsunews.com/ (last accessed 31 May 2011; in Japanese).
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), 2011. Reconstruction Design Council Recommends Means of Rebuilding Northeastern Japan Areas Hit by Disasters, Japan Foreign Policy Update, Government of Japan.
32.
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT), 2012. About the East Japan Earthquake Recovery Subsidy (tentative), Government of Japan, available at http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/000171352.pdf (in Japanese).
33.
MinouraK., ImamuraF., SugawaraD., KonoY., and IwashitaT., 2001. The 869 Jogan tsunami deposit and recurrence interval of large-scale tsunami on the Pacific coast of northeast Japan, Journal of Natural Disaster Science23, 83–88.
NagaiT., 2011. Interview with Mr. Nagai, Counselor, Headquarters for Recovery Response. Nakabayashi, I., 2006. Development of urban disaster prevention systems in Japan—from the mid-1980s, Journal of Disaster Research1, 46–71.
OlshanskyR. B., and ChangS., 2009. Planning for disaster recovery: Emerging research needs and challenges, Progress in Planning72, 200–209.
41.
OlshanskyR. B., HopkinsL. D., ChandrasekharD., and IuchiK., 2009. Disaster recovery: Explaining relationships among actions, decisions, plans, organizations, and people, Proceedings, 2009 NSF Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, Honolulu, HI.
42.
OlshanskyR. B., JohnsonL. A., and ToppingK. C., 2005. Opportunity in Chaos: Rebuilding After the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe Earthquakes, Web Edition, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
43.
OlshanskyR. B., and JohnsonL. A., 2010. Clear as Mud: Planning for the Rebuilding of New Orleans, American Planning Association, Chicago, IL, 360 pp.
44.
OlshanskyR. B., HopkinsL. D., and JohnsonL. A., 2012. Disaster and recovery: Processes compressed in time, Natural Hazards Review, in press.
Reconstruction Design Council, 2011. Towards Reconstruction: “Hope beyond the Disaster” in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake, Government of Japan, available at http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/jfpu/2011/7/pdfs/0712.pdf.
48.
Research Committee for Disaster Countermeasure Institutions (RCDCI), 2004. Disaster Management Administration of Japan, Government of Japan, Gyosei, Tokyo, 244 pp.
49.
RubinC. B., SapersteinM. D., and BarbeeD. G., 1985. Community Recovery from a Major Natural Disaster, University of Colorado, Boulder, 285 pp.
50.
Sankei Business, 2011. Establishing special zone, government bond for funding, recovery basic law passed, establishing recovery agency, Sankei, 21 June 2011, http://www.sankeibiz.jp/macro/news/110621/mca1106210500001-n1.htm (last accessed 5 March 2012; in Japanese).
51.
Sankei Newspaper, 2012a. 70% of 37 local governments affected by tsunami are considering relocation to higher grounds - from Sankei Newspaper survey, Sankei, 9 February 2012, available at http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/news/120209/dst12020901210000-n1.htm (last accessed 21 February 2012; in Japanese).
Sekai Nippo, 2012. Collective relocation, agreement by the residents only reaches 20% in the affected 3 prefectures - Recovery housing is planned in 18 local governments, living in temporary housing will be long, Sekai Nippo, 2 March 2012, http://www.worldtimes.co.jp/today/kokunai/120302-1.html (in Japanese).
54.
SmithG., and WengerD., 2007. Sustainable disaster recovery: Operationalizing an exisiting agenda, in Handbook of Disaster Research (RodríguezH., QuarantelliEnrico, and DynesRussell, editors), Springer, New York, 234–257.
55.
SorensenA., 2004. The Making of Urban Japan: Cities and Planning from Edo to the Twenty-First Centuries, Nissan Institute Routledge Japanese Studies Series, Routledge, New York, 400 pp.
