The Future of Reconstruction, Disaster Prevention, and Disaster Mitigation: Learning from Disaster-Stricken Areas Ten Years after the Earthquake

◆Ten years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures suffered tremendous damage from the tsunami caused by the earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station, and now they are on the path to recovery.

◆However, there are still many issues that remain, such as the extension of the deadline for the establishment of the Reconstruction Agency to fiscal 2030. The Great East Japan Earthquake caused major disruptions in the supply chain, but the rate of companies formulating BCPs (business continuity plans) remains low, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.

◆Also, looking at the rebuilding efforts under the reconstruction plan, the making cities more compact is not advancing uniformly. Reconstruction from the nuclear disaster is the largest long-term issue that remains.

◆Challenges revealed in the 10 years of reconstruction include the realization that when we uncovered how reconstruction, disaster prevention, and disaster mitigation should take place in the future, we saw that what is needed to achieve reconstruction in a more desirable manner was not restoration of a town to its original state.

◆A sustainable approach to urban development is required, including the mitigation of damage by improving the BCP formulation rate of companies, promotion of an efficient and effective Building National Resilience policy in light of the declining population, and utilization of the concept of building compact cities and rebuilding transportation networks.