Challenges in Residents-Centered Reconstruction Process from a Major Disaster Lessons Learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Author(s):  
Michio Ubaura
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (sp) ◽  
pp. 421-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suminao Murakami

Concerned experts and others from a wide range of fields are required to take part in studies on “social” disaster phenomena such as earthquakes and typhoons causing drastic human and property damage and leaving subsequent social and economic destruction. In 2006, the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR) decided to be published as an academic journal in English for global society to help expand research beyond a domestic scope. The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster – in the 6th year of the journal’s publication, has made an impact both domestically and globally due to the unprecedented earthquake and tsunami and resulting radiation leakage at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. JDR will annually publish special issues on the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster beginning in this issue of 2012, for five years, for the purpose of informing, recording and utilizing lessons learned from the disaster. Page charges are in principle free and widespread contributions are welcomed. I have studied disasters from the viewpoint of a planner. Nobody who is active and living in society is irrelevant to wide-scale events related to such disasters, and I still feel that it is important for people from a variety of fields to visit devastated sites, hear from the people experiencing such disasters and make their own standpoints. In American society, for example, disaster measures against earthquakes and other disasters have been studied involving a wide range of experts and others. After the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe, research groups consisting of wide range of experts came to be formed in Japan and environments developed to produce a multidisciplinary journal such as the JDR. The ultimate goal of planned research is human research. A society is needed in which “human power” can be manifested in all aspects such as reviving reconstruction and rehabilitation. This is because contributions by researchers from widespread fields are anticipated in the future.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Liam Shearer

<p>Every year disasters affect hundreds of millions of people, causing damage that can take months or years to recover from. The reality of carrying out the processes of reconstruction and recreating functionality is a complex and difficult task; too often it is measured in a time period of several years. The issue to be addressed through this research is the response of the built (or rebuilt) environment to the requirements of people who have been displaced following a major disaster. This thesis develops a building typology and process that can adapt to the changing requirements of the stages of the redevelopment process in a post‐disaster scenario. The research focuses on natural disasters, more vulnerable populations and regions and specifically on housing reconstruction. It explores the idea of a solution that can be applied widely, to many different climates and contexts; the research question then amounts to ‘can a solution be created that can ‘evolve’ to meet the needs at each stage of a post disaster reconstruction scenario?’ The thesis explores existing post‐disaster response and reconstruction models and discusses the focuses and priorities of each. The requirements of displaced people are studied, in terms of response by the built environment, and the benefits of staged development versus end product discussed. The roles that major groups, such as local authorities and NGOs, play in orchestrating the reconstruction process are discussed as well as the important, and sometimes overlooked, role that those affected by the disaster may have. The discussion and research then informs the design proposal. Four sites are selected and used as parameters for developing the built response to the first stage of reconstruction. The selected sites are then used to show how a generic shelter may first be adapted to be suitable for a specific climate and context and then how they may be added to and grown to become permanent and suitable housing for the displaced people. The staged redevelopment process from a partially generic emergency deployment presented in this thesis can provide a solution, or framework for a solution, to many of the problems raised by the research and here, but it cannot be a solution by itself; architecture or design in post‐disaster scenarios must be supported and driven heavily by planning and management from local, national and international sources to be successful and fully realised.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1247-1256
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Maruya ◽  
Yasunari Watanabe ◽  
◽  

Six and a half years after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE), recovery and reconstruction have been steadily progressing in terms of infrastructure and town development. However, it is a fact that there are still many problems to be tackled in some areas. In addition, communicating the lessons learned from the GEJE is important and should be promoted to improve disaster management in Japan and overseas. The Tohoku Regional Development Bureau (TRDB) held a symposium, “Efforts for Recovery and Reconstruction from the GEJE,” at the World Bosai Forum (WBF) on November 27, 2017. Mayors from the disaster areas, Rikuzentakata city in Iwate prefecture, Ishinomaki city in Miyagi prefecture, and Shinchi town in Fukushima prefecture, and a director of the TRDB presented their projects aiming to “build back better,” and they discussed how they had made efforts toward recovery and reconstruction, mainly in terms of infrastructure and town development. It was confirmed in the discussion that for the reconstruction, steadily advancing safe and secure town development, including multiple defense, was necessary. In addition, software measures, such as disaster education and evacuation drills, are important, as are hardware improvements through reconstruction. Both hardware and software countermeasures should be like a two wheels. It was also asserted that passing down the memories and the lessons of the disaster, not allowing their memories to fade away with time, was important. The speakers showed a variety of approaches to transmitting their memories to future generations in their areas or projects. Then, they emphasized that if people prepared for disaster based on these lessons in advance, there would surely be less damage. Finally, speakers shared the recognition that to realize the above, many actors in the Tohoku district should mutually cooperate to transmit the situation of reconstruction and the lessons of the GEJE.


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