Three Years After a Mega-disaster: Recovery Policies, Programs and Implementation After the Great East Japan Earthquake - Post-Tsunami Hazard: Reconstruction and Restoration - page 29

3.1 Introduction

The Mw9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and tsunami of March 11, 2011
instantly disrupted lives in coastal communities of the Tohoku region in northeast
Japan. The subsequent damage and losses were devastating: the total number of
dead and missing in 12 prefectures surpassed 20,000, including 1,600 people who
died in the following weeks and months; more than 390,000 residential buildings
were totally destroyed (33 %) or partially damaged (67 %); approximately 561
square kilometers (km) of land was inundated; 237 out of 352 local government
buildings in the severely affected region were seriously damaged; and at the peak,
470,000 people were displaced (Cabinet offi ce 2012a ; Geospatial Information
Authority of Japan 2011 ; Reconstruction Agency 2014a ). Moreover, the tsunami
damaged nuclear power plants causing a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant
in Fukushima Prefecture, and exposing nearby communities to a plume of radiation.
Early on, residents within a 20 km zone were forced to evacuate. Later, people were
evacuated from even more distant areas that were also contaminated by radiation,
adding to the displaced population. The evacuation order lasted for about 6 months.
After several revisions, contamination areas have been separated into three zones
based on the level of radiation and their future potential for reoccupancy.
A tremendous level of resources have been invested by different levels of govern-
ment and other actors in the fi rst 3 years of the region's recovery. Thus far, Japan's
national government has committed 25 trillion yen (approximately US$ 250 billion)
and has established a national Reconstruction Agency with a 10 year mandate to
guide the rebuilding process. Many national-level planning policies and rebuilding
programs have also been developed and implemented. Four prefectures and 81 local
governments have crafted recovery plans and identified national rebuilding
programs for implementing these plans. By the third anniversary of the GEJE, the
fi rst sites for permanently relocated settlements had just been completed and some
residents had been able to move into newly constructed disaster recovery public
housing.
Affected populations have gone through several stages of displacement during
the fi rst 3 years of recovery. As aftershocks and blackouts continued after March 11,
more than 470,000 people initially took shelter in evacuation centers - 150 % more
than the number of evacuees after Japan's 1995 Kobe Earthquake. One week later,
this number dropped as people returned to houses that were at least partially inhabit-
able. The fi rst temporary housing units were completed in April 2011, a total of
53,000 units were constructed in a year, and almost all evacuation shelters were
closed by the end of 2011 (Kan 2012 ; MLIT 2012b ). As of March 2014, about
267,000 people are still living with temporary housing assistance, waiting for per-
manent homes to be rebuilt (Reconstruction Agency 2014a ). Figure 3.1 shows the
general location and distribution of the remaining displaced population. Evacuees from
Fukushima Prefecture face a more complicated recovery, a longer-term evacuation,
and a more uncertain future.
This chapter considers the policies and programs related to land use, temporary
housing and housing recovery in the Tohoku region during the fi rst 3 years after the