Reconstruction Plans and Planning Process After the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami - Post-Tsunami Hazard: Reconstruction and Restoration - page 17

height of less than approximately 2 m in the case of “level 2” tsunami. The area with
expected inundation higher than 2 m, is designated as disaster hazard area, and its
residential use is forbidden.
Reconstruction land use plans, which are made to ensure this safety level, can be
categorized into fi ve typical patterns according to the investigation of the national
government (TTILIT 2012 ) 1 :

(a) “Relocation”: part of the inundated area, with expected inundation height of
more than 2 m of “level 2” tsunami, is designated as disaster hazard area, and
the settlements must be relocated outside the inundated territory.
(b) “Aggregation on site”: the settlement is to be aggregated to the on-site area,
where safety is ensured by a coastal levee or a secondary levee.
(c) “Land Raising”: part of the inundated area is to be raised, and the settlement
must be aggregated there.
(d) “Relocation + Land Raising”: combination of Relocation and Land Raising
(e) “On site reconstruction with defense facilities”: the inundated area must be
reconstructed when the safety is ensured by structural protection facilities.

2.3 Relationship Between Spatial Planning

and Disaster Prevention Planning

2.3.1 Confl icts Between Objective and Subjective Safety

in Reconstruction Plans

The height of the levee planned by the government corresponds in principle, as above-
mentioned, to the height of Level 1 tsunami. This reaches into, in some cases, as many
as more than 10 m. However, the height of it required by the local residents is in some
cases lower than that because of the infl uence on fi shing, landscape or tourism. These
cases occurred mainly among the fi shing villages along the ria coast, where people's
life is closely linked to the ocean through fi shing, representing both a regular vocation
and a tourist industry. 2 The planned tsunami protection system is excessive for those
people, hindering their comfort and convenient daily life or smooth industrial activi-
ties and it is considered responsible for accelerating the decline of the village. It is
also, in some cases, criticized to be ineffi cient, for there is no land use to be protected
in the hinterland, such as farmland or even uncropped farmland. 3
In other cases, the height of the levee required by local residents is higher than
that planned by the government. Moreover, the designation of the disaster hazard

1 More than 31,000 people were killed by the tsunami after 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which
correspond to more than 10 % of the whole population of the city.
2 We can take the following cases as typical examples; Moune district, Motoyoshi district and
Shibitachi district in Kesennuma city. (from Aug. 13th to 18th, Kahoku Shimpo Newspaper ).
3 Is levee needed in inhabited island!? (2013, Nov. 09) Mainichi Shimbun , p. 21.