Relocation After Tsunamis in the Sanriku Area and the Condition of Fishing Villages Two Years After the 2011 Great East Japan Tsunami - Post-Tsunami Hazard: Reconstruction and Restoration - page 50

Fig. 4.3 Damaged seawalls and area for relocation in the mountain ( left ). Forests in the mountain
that were cut for personal purposes ( right )

tsunami. Two years after the 2011 tsunami, the village's port is still suffering because
of land subsidence as a result of the port being submerged during high tide. Most
fi shermen still have to anchor their boats at other ports because the fi shing port in
Tadakoshi is not yet fully reconstructed.
Aquaculture activities of the port have recovered to some extent. For the view of
village reconstruction, the villagers realized the level of devastation, and all residents
agreed to move their homes to high ground. According to the current reconstruction
plan, part of the mountain near the port will be cut and approximately 25 households
will be moved by 2015 (Fig. 4.3 -left). An example of a new adaptation following the
2011 tsunami in many villages of the Sanriku area is the posting of signs showing
the elevation above sea level in many places. This information may help support an
evacuation decision following a tsunami warning. There was one problem found in
this area during the survey: a large numbers of trees in the forest were cut in a pri-
vate mountain behind the village (Fig. 4.3 right) and the owner did not agree to see
his land for the purpose of the high ground residents (Suppasri and Yasuda 2013 ).
The removal of trees will lead to a high risk of landslides triggered by large earth-
quakes or heavy rainfall to the lowland area below.

4.3.2 Niranohama Village, Minami-Sanriku Town

According to the reconstruction plan of Minami-Sanriku town ( 2011 ), Niranohama
village was hit by a tsunami with a peak height of 4.3 m in 1896 and one with a peak
height of 2.4 m in 1933. Nevertheless, the tsunami height of the 2011 event reached
as high as 12.2 m. According to the interview, there were eight deaths among the
village population of 361, which can be interpreted as a 2.22 % fatality ratio
(Suppasri 2013 ). This low ratio is likely due to a tsunami evacuation drill performed
in the village just 4 months before the 2011 tsunami. The reconstruction plan of this