Three Years After a Mega-disaster: Recovery Policies, Programs and Implementation After the Great East Japan Earthquake - Post-Tsunami Hazard: Reconstruction and Restoration - page 36

funding was granted in 2012. Through this system, recovery funds totaling 581 billion
yen (US$ 5.81 billion) as of August 2013 have been allocated to 92 local governments
in 11 prefectures (Reconstruction Agency 2013b ).
Intensive negotiations between local governments and communities also occurred
during this phase of recovery. In communities aiming for the collective relocation
program , details about the potential sites for relocation and participating members
were carefully discussed and identifi ed. Negotiations took place between local
governments and land owners, including those who decided to sell their land to the
government to be used for collective relocation sites and those participating in buyouts
of their tsunami-inundated property. In communities adopting land readjustment
and raising programs , local consensus on levee height and land use behind the levee
had to be negotiated. Some localities made quick decisions either because of the
existence of good decision making systems or because of a total lack of community
involvement; whereas, some other localities have faced continuing diffi culties in
reaching consensus because of opposing interests. Lastly, plans for the public
housing program have attempted to incorporate user needs in some areas. By the
end of the second year after the GEJE, the majority of recovery programs were
approved for implementation, including agreement on 100 % of collective relocation
programs and authorization of 75 % of the land readjustment and raising programs.
Also, with time, programs have been linked better spatially and in relation to the
levees and other local considerations. There has also been more spatial planning that
has included scenic preservation. For example, in some coastal communities, the
concrete levees shown in the original plans have now turned into green recreational
trails that can help unify neighboring communities and create a stronger sense of
place for residents.

3.2.3 Recovery Phase Three: Implementing the Recovery

Programs

By the spring of 2013, local governments were accelerating rebuilding projects with
funds allocated by the national Reconstruction Agency. By this time, 23 % of all the
collective relocation projects, 46 % of all the land readjustment and raising projects,
and 41 % of all the public housing construction projects had broken ground
(Reconstruction Agency 2013c ). Implementation has been proceeding relatively
quickly once these projects began construction. By the end of the third year in
March 2014, 70-90 % of all the projects were under construction, and 15 % of
the collective relocation projects and 10 % of the public housing projects were
completed (Reconstruction Agency 2014b ). Some community members who took
part in collective relocation program are ready to build their new homes on the
new sites, and many households have begun moving into public housing.
The Reconstruction Agency ( 2014b ) also reported that 68 % of the total planned
levee reconstruction managed by the prefectural governments had begun construction
by March 2014.