Damage Scale and Long-term Recovery Plans in Japan: Working with Local People

• Published in: Journal of disaster research Vol. 2; no. 6; pp. 431 - 444
• Main Authors: Norio Maki, Haruo Hayashi, Keiko Tamura
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2007
• ISSN: 1881-2473; 1883-8030
• DOI: 10.20965/jdr.2007.p0431

After devastating disaster, local governments create their "long-term recovery plans." However, there is no clear threshold showing how severely damaged local governments would establish the plan, and no analysis on what kind of components those plans could include. Another issue about long-term recovery planning is how we compiling ideas or visions of stakeholders of an impacted community into a plan. There exists two aspects in planning, one is how ideas of stakeholders are compiled into a plan, and the other is how a feasible plan is established. This paper discusses about 1) the threshold and components for long-term recovery plans from historical data analysis on the various long term recovery plans in Japan during 1959 Ise Bay Typhoon Disaster to Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake Disaster, and 2) planning scheme to establish feasible plan with stakeholder involvement. As a results about the threshold and components on long-term recovery plans, when 8% house holds suffers major damage within total local government's house holds, local governments could establish "long-term recovery plans," and there exits two kinds of "long-term recovery plans" such as comprehensive plans and disaster reduction+short term recovery plans among recent "long-term recovery plans." And the scheme to develop long-term recovery planning by summing up 1690 of stakeholders' ideas on long term recovery of the community into the plan according to a strategic planning framework were developed from the case study in the Ojiya City long term recovery planning, which suffers severe damage from 2004 Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake Disaster. The planning process which could secure the feasibility and effectiveness of the plan and compile successfully various visions and ideas of stakeholders were compiled into the plan were developed.