Journal of Natural Disaster Science, Volume 27, Number 2, 2005, pp25-39

The Neghiborfood Community-training Program for Post-disaster Recovery: Toward Preparing Community-based Recovery Management
Taro ICHIKO1, Shin AIBA1, Jin YOSHIKAWA2, Itsuki NAKABAYASHI1
and Kunio TAKAMIZAWA1
1Faculity of Urban Environmental Sciences Division of Architecture and Urban Studies, Tokyo Metropolitan University
2
J Plan(Received for 27 May., 2005 and in revised from 4 Jan., 2006)

ABSTRACT
Considering immense damage by great earthquake, pre-disaster planning for post-disaster recovery is vital forthe disaster-resillent community. From this point of view, we designed neighborhood community-training program for post-disaster recovery applied of the participation method for community-based development(Machidukuri). Our team were involved to develop and manage one program held in Shinkoiwa (Katsushika
ward, Tokyo) during November 2004 to April 2005.
In this paper, backgrounds of target neighborhood community and implemented program were explained. After
that, questionnaire survey to participants who contained residents, civil servants and practitioners was analyzed tomeasure the impact of this program. Finally, a position of the program among disaster reduction policies were discussed.

1. RESEARCH BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
One lesson learned from the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake is theconcept of pre-disaster planning. Its development and perspective is shown by Nakabayashi (2005)(1). Nakabayashi classified
pre-disaster activities in Tokyo Metropolitan into the following: 1.
Prior consideration of recovery procedure, 2. Promotion of priorestablishment and consideration of recovery system, 3. Prior
consideration of recovering the town image, 4. Proposition ofprior development of recovery activity system, 5. Technology
acquisition and staff training by recovery manual training, 6.
Fostering of personnel and local organizations by neighborhood
community-training program for post-disaster recovery. In particular, he pointed out that activity 6 was a new trial developed
from the 5 objectives and significances of pre-disaster planningissued by the National Land Agency (1998).
The neighborhood community-training program for post-disaster recovery is part of the citizen-fostering activities for town
recovery of Tokyo Metropolitan that started in fiscal year 2003,
and Kita-ku conducted an urban recovery workshop prior toTokyo Metropolitan's activities. Figure 1 shows the locations of 7
sites where citizen-fostering activities for town recovery were conducted in fiscal years 2003 and 2004. The development of a training program in the Nukui district, one of two sites where the activities were conducted in fiscal year 2003, was reported(2,3). Ichikoclaimed(3) that now is the time to design and administer a neighborhood community-training program for post-disaster recovery,
although he did not quantitatively evaluate the program itself.

In Shin-koiwa, Katsushika-ku, training was conducted from
November 2004 to April 2005 following the activity method of the
Nukui district. As for the training in the Shin-koiwa district, Aiba
(2005) reported some problems from the viewpoint of planning,
but did not quantitatively discusse people's awareness and theeffect of the training.
In our study, we examined the neighborhood communitytraining program for post-disaster recovery, based on a questionnaire survey given to the program participants and analysis of theachievement of the program. We then discussed the program's possibility as a pre-disaster planning measure that residents, governments, companies, experts, and NPOs could work on collaboratively on a district scale.
In this article, we conducted our analysis from the following
viewpoints: 1. Characteristics of participant residents, 2.
Acceptance level of the training, and 3. Resident's evaluation of
the training method. This article is organized as follows. In Section
2, we summarize the characteristics of the local community in thetarget district of Shin-koiwa in comparison with those of the Nukui
district studied in 2003. Section 3 is devoted to the analysis of themethod of the training program, based on the achievement of the
training and on the questionnaire survey given to the participantsthat was conducted in each training session. In Section 4, we analyzed the resident s awareness of the training method such as large
maps or role playing, and in Section 5, we analyzed the evaluationof the participant experts on the training in Shin-koiwa. Discussion
is given in Section 6 with a summary of the knowledge obtained.

KEY WORDS: pre-disaster planning for post-disaster recovery, community-training program for post-disaster recovery, community based development(Machidukuri), participation method for community based development

26

T. ICHIKO, S. AIBA1, J. YOSHIKAWA, I. NAKABAYASHI AND K. TAKAMIZAWA

Table 1.

Location

Area characteristics of the Shin-koiwa district: Comparison with the Nukui district in 2003
Shin-koiwa, Katsushika-ku
1 to 4-chome, Shin-koiwa; 1 and 2-chome,
Nishi Shin-koiwa; 1 and 2-chome, Higashi
Shin-koiwa
166ha, 4,867, 124/ha

Area, Number of buildings, Population
density
Population, Number of households,
20,496, 10,117, 42.6
Average age (Census 2000)
Youth population ratio, Aging population 8.3%, 17.6%
ratio
Development of town area
After the Great Kanto Earthquake, factories
were built on the north side of the railway
around Shin-koiwa Station on the Sobu Line,and residential houses on the south side. The
residential area was developed from farmlandin the 1930s, and the town has a large grid
structure. Hence residential areas with many
houses are now formed in part of the district.
In the early 1970s, a large factory on thenorth side was moved and municipally-owned
housings were constructed in the vacant lot.
The district contains one of the largest
commercial areas in Katsushika-ku. In recent
years, condominiums have been built mostly
along the main streets.
2-4
34%(General) Risk level-Shin-koiwa Community Union
Ratio of house owners-South Shin-koiwa Town Development
Major local organizations for the training Association

Nukui, Nerima-ku
1 to 5-chome, Nukui

108ha, About 4,700, 165/ha
17,827, 7,973, 40.9
11.2%, 16.5%
Residential areas were graduallydeveloped from farmlands in the 1960s
with no infrastructure development
such as land readjustment andresidential road networks wereconstructed on farm roads. City
planning streets such as Mejiro-dori,
Senkawa-dori, and Ring road 8 weredeveloped, along which condominiums
were built.
The district contains two stations ofa private railway and has a small
commercial area.

2-3
48%-Nukui Community Association-Evacuation Base Management
Networkparison with Nukui, we summarize the area characteristics and participant's attributes of the Shin-koiwa district. This is a prerequisite
for the establishment of the training program.
2.1

Fig. 1

Areas where Tokyo Metropolitan s citizen-fostering
activities for town recovery were conducted

2. DEVELOPMENT OF NERGHBORHOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR POST-DIASTERRCOVERY IN SHIN-KOIWA DISTRICTAs Aiba(4) reported, the program in Shin-koiwa followed theone conducted in Nukui, Nerima-ku in fiscal year 2003. In com-

Area characteristics of Shin-koiwa district: Prerequisite
for the training program
Table 1 shows a summary of the area characteristics of Shinkoiwa and Nukui. The average number of people per household issmaller in Shin-koiwa than in Nukui (2.0 in Shin-koiwa and 2.2 inNukui). The youth population ratio is smaller and the aging population ratio is higher in Shin-koiwa. The population density is higher in Nukui partly because, in Shin-koiwa, there are large non-residential areas such as the Arakawa floodway, JR railways, andShin-koiwa park that is one of Tokyo large evacuation areas. The
risk level, determined by Tokyo Metropolitan in 2003 for the fifthtime, is higher in Shin-koiwa than in Nukui, and in particular, therisk level of building destruction in 3 and 4-chome, Shin-koiwa, is
5, the highest relatively in all of Tokyo. An area along Arakawa
River has now been designated as a development district in the"Promotion program of urban disaster-prevention development"with a development target of increasing the fireproof area ratio to
70% by fiscal year 2025 from 56% as of fiscal year 2001. The district contains two Tokyo Metropolitan planning streets: Kuramaedori (Hosha 14) running east to west along the JR Sobu Line andTHE NEGHIBORFOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR POST-DISASTER RECOVERY

Heiwabashi-dori (Hojo 140) running north to south.
JR Shin-koiwa Station has been developed in recent years as atraffic center. The development of the Shin-koiwa north accessway, station plaza, and access roads were determined as a city
planning program in March 2004 and is scheduled for completionin 2008.
2.2 Process to the training
The training was mostly supported by the Shin-koiwa
Community Union and South Shin-koiwa Town Development
Association. The Shin-koiwa Community Union is one of 19 community unions in Katsushika-ku, and consists of 11 community
associations. The South Shin-koiwa Town Development
Association started in 1988 with 17 groups including community
associations and shop street promotion associations on the south
side of the station, taking advantage of the area development
around JR Shin-koiwa Station, and has conducted activities such as
cultural exhibitions and the proposition of the Basic plan of town
development as part of the master plan of Katsushika city planning (1997 through 2001).
Prior to the training, 11 community associations, 4 shop street
promotion associations, the Youth Development Shin-koiwa Local
Committee(Note 1), South Shin-koiwa Town Development
Association, and Japanese Red Cross Shin-koiwa Branch wereinvited by Katsushika-ku, upon consultation with the Community
Union, to the training sessions.
The head office consisted of Tokyo Metropolitan, Katsushikaku, Tokyo Town Development Center for Disaster Prevention andConstruction, and Tokyo Metropolitan University, and lawyers,
judicial scriveners, architects, small and medium enterprise man-

Table 2.
Date

27

agement consultants, city planners, other experts and university
students offered support voluntarily. A total of 138 individuals in
addition to the local residents participated in the training.
2.3 Participant s attributes
A 10-minute questionnaire survey of local participants was
conducted at each training session. Table 3 presents the collection
ratio and participant s sex and Table 4 shows the age distribution.
The average age was 65 at the first training session. This highaverage is probably due to the fact that the Community Union andthe Town development Association that consists mainly of store
owners joined the training session as local support organizations.
The average could be lowered by inviting younger generations to
the training session, just as in the Nukui district where the PTA
was invited.
Table 5 summarizes the numbers of the local participants who
participated except for the fifth training session that was devoted to
the result representation. The cumulative number of the participants in the four training sessions was 219. 84 residents participated in the training sessions once or more, among which 25 residents, about 30%, participated in all the training sessions. As in
Table 6, the data on the residential period showed relatively highpercentages at 30 years or less and 50 years or more. A typicalcase of the former is a person who got a job when he/she wasyoung, lived in Shin-koiwa, retired from a company, and participated in local activities. A typical case of the latter is a person
who was born and has been living in Shin-koiwa. Both types canbe major supporters of local community activities. In fact, as seenin Table 7 that summarizes the answers to the question, What isyour role in local community activities? asked in the first training

Overview of neighborhood community-training program for post-disaster recovery in Shin-koiwa district

Participants (individuals)
Residents Government
staff

Name of training
Experts Students

Content

Method used

Estimation of
local disasterdamage throughtown walking andmap training
Image training of
1-weekevacuation lifeand support
activities after anearthquake
Design game of
temporary
housings andtowns using a
modelSpace imaging
and procedure
examination of
town recovery

Town walking,
Making 1/1500scale maps

Total

1st
12. 27,
2004

58

24

15

13

110 Town walking andtown examination

2nd
1. 30,
2004

57

19

21

12

109 Considering
recovery from theperspective of life
as an evacuee

3rd
2. 19,
2004

53

21

22

10

106 Considering ideal
temporary housingsand towns

4th
3. 19,
2004

51

17

17

11

96 Considering town
development forrecovery5th
4. 10,
2004

About 30

About 15

About About 7 About 62 Result
10
representationRole playing

Design game witha model, Training
on a map

Photo language,
Training on a map

28

T. ICHIKO, S. AIBA1, J. YOSHIKAWA, I. NAKABAYASHI AND K. TAKAMIZAWA

session, about 60% of the residents selected As a central memberof community associations or I participate in town development
associations or community associations with a strong consciousness. Table 8 is the result of the question about intent of town
recovery in the event of a disaster. 69% answered positive intents
toward town recovery.
Table 9 shows the result of the question about disaster prevention measures that the participants themselves take. The resultsof the Tokyo Metropolitan survey(Note 2), Nukui district, andShin-koiwa district differed in the initial fire control measure, andseismic capacity evaluation and seismic retrofitting of residential
houses. The percentage of people who have earthquake insurance
is about the same in Shin-koiwa and Nukui. These data indicatethat the training participants in Shin-koiwa were community leaders but took insufficient measures for their houses against earthquake.
The difference between the local participants in Nukui and
Shin-koiwa lies in the acknowledgement of disaster-prevention
activities and disaster-response training in the communities. Table
10 is the result of recognition of school evacuation sites in
Katsushika-ku and the evacuation center in Nerima-ku. People inboth districts showed a similar level of knowledge about the school

Table 3.
Femaleevacuation sites, although 44% of people in Nukui and 29% in
Shin-koiwa know about the organization that manages the evacuation sites. This may be because, in Nukui, not only the community
associations, but also the school evacuation site management committee were invited to the training sessions. On the contrary, as in
Table 11 that presents knowledge about the recovery process of
housings and towns, more people in Shin-koiwa than in Nukui
have knowledge about the recovery process of housings as well as
towns. This is because the town development activities have been
conducted in Shin-koiwa and the activity members were includedin the training participants. From the above, we conclude that theactivity characteristics of local participants are development oflivable towns in Shin-koiwa and prevention of and response todisasters in Nukui.
3. MANNER OF THE TRAINING SESSIONSIn this section we analyze the manner of the four training sessions in addition to the result representation, and group work in
particular, based on the training results and the questionnaire given
to the participants. In every training session, a group was formedby about 6 local participants, 2 government staff, 1 facilitator, 1

Sex of local participantsMale

No answer

Number of respondents (Ratio)

1st training session

8

17.8%

32

71.1%

5

45 (78%)

2nd training session

18

31.6%

36

63.2%

3

57 (100%)

3rd training session

14

26.9%

37

71.2%

1

53 (100%)

4th training session

12

25.5%

34

72.3%

1

47 (93%)

Table 4.

Age distribution of local participants

30s

40s

50s

60

70s or above

1st training session

0

4

7

12

16

6

2nd training session

0

3

7

18

24

5

4th training session

0

1

5

18

22

1

Table 5.

No answer

Number of participations of the participants

Number of participations (in a total of 4 training sessions)
1
2
3
4
Total

Number of participants
19
19
21
25
84

Ratio
22.6%
22.6%
25.0%
29.8%
100.0%

From the list of participants

DifficultSlightly difficult

Can't choose

Slightly easy

Fig. 2 Easiness of the second role-playing

EasyTHE NEGHIBORFOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR POST-DISASTER RECOVERY

marker (mostly students), and 1 expert.
3.2

The first training session: Town walking and town examination
The aim of the town examination was: 1. Imaging of damaged
town (this aim was also adopted in the training in Nukui), 2. Check

Table 6.

Residential years of local participants(From the questionnaire at the 1st training session)

10 years or less10-19 years
20-29 years
30-39 years
40-49 years
50 years or more
No answer

7
4
9
4
4
11
6
45

15.6%
8.9%
20.0%
8.9%
8.9%
24.4%
13.3%
100.0%

Table 7.

29

of school evacuation sites, and 3. Examination of temporary housing sites. Several groups were assigned to each aim, and a total of
9 groups examined the town. In the examination of school evacuation sites, access to the schools and their equipment and facilities
were checked. In the examination of temporary housing sites, thesite size and the access methods from neighboring areas were
examined. Each local participant had a role such as group leader,record clerk, or photographer. Detailed information materials forthe training sessions were provided to all the participants to show
the checkpoints and explanation was given on how to put theresults together according to each aim.
Disaster damage is determined as a function of external forcesand vulnerability. The vulnerability in the local communities andthe resources that cover it were observed in the Town walking
and town examination. In other words, the participants confirmedthat the house damage could vary due to the vulnerability evenwith the same external forces and examined facilities in the school
evacuation sites as a resource for covering the vulnerability.

Participant’s consciousness on the role in local community

1. As a central member of community associations
2. As a central member of town development associations or other organizations
3. As a central member of expert organizations or NPOs
4. I participate in town development associations or community associations with astrong consciousness.

16
7
3
11

36%
16%
7%
24%

5. I know there are town development associations or community associations, but I
do not actively participate in them.
999. No answer

3

7%

5
45

11%
100%

Table 8.

Intent toward town recovery in Shin-koiwa(From the questionnaire at the 1st training session
Strongly
yes

Moderately
yes

Moderately
no

Absolutely
no

31
69%

9
20%

3
7%

0
0%

Do you intend to reconstruct your house orstore in Shin-koiwa in the event of a disaster

Table 9.

Disaster-prevention measures for housing
Shin-koiwa

Nukui

Tokyo Metropolitan survey

1. Fixing furniture

31%

32%

32%

2. Initial fire control measure (Installation of extinguisher)

49%

73%

N/q

3. Stock of drinking water and food

76%

64%

54%

4. Seismic capacity evaluation and seismic retrofitting of houses

7%

16%

21%

5. Earthquake insurance

27%

30%

N/q

Table 10.

School evacuation sites

Recognition of school evacuation sites and management organization

Shin-koiwa
Nukui

Management organization of school Shin-koiwa
evacuation sites

Nukui

Know very well

Know a little

Do not know

No answer

60% (27)

22% (10)

4% (2)

13% (6)

55%

29%

12%

3%

29% (13)

18% (8)36% (16)

18% (8)

44%

32%

19%

6%

In the question asked in the training in Nukui, “Evacuation sites” and “Management organization of evacuation sites” were usedinstead of “School evacuation sites” and “Management organization of school evacuation sites.”30

T. ICHIKO, S. AIBA1, J. YOSHIKAWA, I. NAKABAYASHI AND K. TAKAMIZAWA

Table 11.

On the recovery of houses and towns

Yes I’m thinking about
the method of recovery.
Do you ever think about how to repair orreconstruct your house in order to return
to your original life if the house getsdamaged in a disaster?
(Answers in Shin-koiwa)
Answers in Nukui, Nerima-ku
Do you ever think about how the town
recovery will proceed if the entire town
gets severely damaged in a large disaster?
(Answers in Shin-koiwa)
Answers in Nukui, Nerima-ku

Through the town walking
did you find anything, suchas potentially dangerous
areas in case of earthquake,the condition of school
evacuation sites, or thecondition of temporary
housing sites?
Answers in Nukui, Nerima-ku

17
39%

11
25%

10%
12
27%

44%
21
48%

45%
11
25%

6%

44%

51%

Found
nothing

26
58%

18
40%

1
2%

54%

40%

6%

Table 12 is the result of the question Did you obtain any
findings? 58% of the participants answered, I have obtained
many findings. The result obtained in the Nukui district showed
the same tendency. That is, almost 60% of the local participants
obtained many findings by imaging the disaster damages andresponses.
The Town walking and town examination is an establishedtraining program and widely used for town development. When it
is used for recovery training sessions, it is important to improve
the recognition of the damage-reducing resources through thequestions from experts and the communication with local participants from the viewpoint of recovery.
3.2

I didn’t even think about it.

16
36%

Table 12. Findings in town walking
Found much Found a little

I thought about it, but I
don’t know what to do.

The second training session: Considering recovery fromlife as an evacuee
In the second training session, the participants role-played
their lives as of two weeks after an earthquake disaster when they
were living life as an evacuee, a month after the disaster when they
could move to temporary housing, and three months after the disaster when discussion on the planning of town recovery had started. This training session involved them imagining where they lived
at each post-disaster stage and considering what action to take. The
role-playing scenarios were based on those considered in the training in the Nukui district, although connection to local community(woman activities in community associations, PTA activities, etc)
was added as another item. In other words, the roles were determined by the following points: 1. Condition of the residential
houses that they lived in and stores that they worked at, 2. Family

structure and residence history, 3. Job, 4. Connection to local community, and 5. Others (debts, savings and other assets).
The places of residence at each stage were summarized in a
Home rebuilding selection chart, based on which group discussion was conducted. In the group discussion, the participants discussed problems expected in the rebuilding of the houses, conditions for occupancy of the temporary houses, and problems in the
town recovery in the Shin-koiwa district from the viewpoints of
all residents will remain in the district,no one will remain,etc, which could be deduced from the chart.
Tables 13 and 14 tallied the chart in either case of the complete destruction role play (the role play of a resident whose house
was completely destroyed) and the partial destruction role play (therole play of a resident whose house was partially destroyed). The
recovery process stages in the Tables were not given in the questionnaire but written by the respondents. From the Tables, wefound the following result on the participant's choice of housereconstruction in the Shin-koiwa district:- 67% of the participants in the partial destruction roles chosethe process Remain in the house -> Temporary treatment ->Repair the house, and this was the main path toward house recovery.
- The participants in the partial destruction roles that chose
temporary houses were all living in rental housing.
- 19% of the participants in the complete destruction roles (5participants) chose the reconstruction path of evacuating to outside
the damaged area after the disaster and remaining (or moving to)outside. The others hoped to stay in the Shin-koiwa district, maybe
by living in the temporary houses, and to reconstruct the houses.
Debriefing(Note 3) was newly introduced to the Shin-koiwa
training. Namely, a Legal and administrative consultation simulation was held in cooperation with the Town Recovery Support
Association. Typical legal consultation is conducted on a one-onone basis, although this time each group asked questions andlawyers, experts, and administrative officers answered them in aplenary session.
As for the participant's consciousness, Fig.2 shows the result
for the question on the easiness of playing the roles. 51% of theparticipants answered that playing the roles was Easy or
Slightly easy.
Table 15 is the result for the question on anxiety about therecovery, which was asked before the second training session, andTHE NEGHIBORFOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR POST-DISASTER RECOVERY

31

Table 13. Result from home rebuilding selection chart of the complete destruction roles (Number of individuals)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Living place
School evacuation site
Remain in the house / Temporary treatment /Repair the house
Relative’s house outside the damaged area
Evacuate or move to outside the damaged area
Rental housing (Around Shin-koiwa if possible)
Live in a tent by myself / Construct temporary
house by myself
Temporary public housing
Consider reconstruction of house by myself

Two weeks after
15

A month after3

Three months after

3

1

2

3
2
2

5
6
3

5
5

1

2

1

6

9
4
26

26

26

(Single-family houses A, B; Apartment owner B; Rental condominiums and apartments A; Condominiums)

Table 14.

Result from home rebuilding selection chart of the partial destruction roles (Number of individuals)

Living place

Two weeks after

A month after

1 School evacuation site

18

5

2 Remain in the house / Temporary treatment / Repair the house

4

12

3 Relative’s house outside the damaged area

4

4 Evacuate or move to outside the damaged area

1

Three months after
18
5

2

3

2

1

7 Temporary public housing

1

4

8 Consider reconstruction of house by myself

1

5 Rental housing (Around Shin-koiwa if possible)
6 Live in a tent by myself / Construct temporary house by myself

27

27

27

(Stores A, B, C; Rental condominiums and apartments B; Apartment owner A, C)

Fig. 3 is the result for the question on factors of the recovery thatcaused anxiety, which was asked at the end of the training. Before
the second training session, 64% complained of anxieties about
their lives and houses. However, after the training, although 63%
still felt anxious about money for the reconstruction, there was notendency of increasing the anxieties over other factors. In particular, to the question on the recovery of communities and connections to neighborhood, the number of participants who selected theanswer Very anxious was relatively small and even some chosethe answer Not anxious, which is characteristic compared to theother questions.
In the question asked in the training in Nukui, Evacuationsites and Management organization of evacuation sites wereused instead of School evacuation sites and Management organization of school evacuation sites.
3.3

The third training session: Considering ideal temporary
housing and towns
The third training session was devoted to group work with thefollowing groups: Town group that performed on-map training
to examine the possibility of temporary towns, and House group
and Store group that examined the imagined life in temporary
houses and stores respectively with the assumption that theyremained in the district and would be able to construct their houses
and stores.
Materials used and procedure were the same as those used in

the training in Nukui. The issues in the group discussion are summarized as:
1. Town group-Which vacant lot can be used for the temporary town?
-Is it necessary for the local community to form an associationin order to realize the temporary town?
-Problems of administration and local communities for the
management of the temporary town.
2. House group-Honest evaluation of house arrangement such as parallelhouse arrangement (as in Hanshin) or house arrangement surrounding a courtyard, by imagining if I live in the house....
-Problem in determining who should have priority for moving
to the temporary houses.
-What kinds of problems are expected in one s life in the temporary houses? Is there anything that the local communities can do
to support this situation?
3. Store group-Honest evaluation, from the viewpoint of customers or store
owners, of store arrangement such as equally-arranged stores along
railways or concentrated markets-In what kind of situation are the temporary stores necessary?
-Problems in the business of the temporary stores

32

T. ICHIKO, S. AIBA1, J. YOSHIKAWA, I. NAKABAYASHI AND K. TAKAMIZAWA

Table 15.

Anxiety about recovery from disaster (Asked at the first training session)
Yes, very muchYes, a little

Not very much

Are you now anxious about the recovery of
your life and house after a large earthquake?

29
64%

15
33%

1
2%

0
0%

Answers in Nukui, Nerima-ku

31%

63%

6%

0%

Table 16.

Not at all

Experience of considering temporary stores and towns (Asked before the third training session)
I have thought about it.

I have a little concern about it.

I never thought, and never
had concern, about it.

No answer

1. Temporary stores

23%

61%

5%

11%

2. Temporary towns

16%

68%

4%

12%

Slightly anxious

No answer

Very anxious

51％

1. Life in evacuation site

39％

0.9％ 19％

Not anxious
2. Reconstruction of house(Financial problem)

21％

63％

3. Reconstruction of house(Non-financial problem)

49％

4. Reopening of stores

32％

5. Return to job

28％

25％

2％

43％

37％

2％

25％

12％

35％

32％

40％

0.5％

7. Recovery of communities
and connections to neighborhood

32％

42％

7％

20%

40%

23％
30％

6. Recovery of townscape

0%

14％

60%

28％
19％

80%

100%

Fig. 3 Anxiety about various problems in the recovery from earthquake (Asked at the end of the second training session)

Yes, very much
1. I now have a better understanding of the schemeof the temporary towns (temporary life place)that Tokyo Metropolitan government promotes.

Yes, a little

33％

I cannot choose.

46％

8％

12％

No, I don’t think so.

2. I would like to remember the temporary towns,
which Tokyo Metropolitan government promotes,
as one of the schemes of the recovery.

67％

3. The local communities could play rolesin the realization of the temporary towns,
houses, and stores.

29％

60％

4. I could play a role in the realizationof the temporary towns, houses, and stores.

31％

50％

31％

0%

20%

40%

4％

6％

60%

2％

2％

10％

80%

100%

Fig. 4 Consciousness about temporary houses, towns, and stores (Asked after the third training session)

Figure 13 shows the result of the house design game using a
primary-school yard, and Fig. 14 is the result of the store design
game assuming the store street is completely gutted by fire in adisaster.
Let us first look at the training result of the store group that is

one of the area characteristics in the Shin-koiwa district. Two store
groups participated in the training under the same condition. One
group claimed that the store street served as a place for vigorous
town and human communications and therefore that the temporary store street should be constructed immediately to open theTHE NEGHIBORFOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR POST-DISASTER RECOVERY

stores as soon as possible. Another group claimed, on the other
hand, that a full reconstruction program is more important than thetemporary stores. Namely, they considered that if a shared temporary store was built on a site other than the original store location,
it was not certain whether a business license, in particular for
restaurants, would be smoothly issued. They also thought that thetwo-year contract of the temporary stores could have problems in
relevant rights even in a disaster situation, because of the leasehold
issues. The second group thus found problems in the realization of
the temporary stores.
The questionnaire prior to the third training session shows that
there was high concern about the temporary stores and towns
although only 20% of the participants answered, I have thought
about it (Table 16). One of the achievements of the third training
session is that many participants answered that they would like toremember the temporary towns (Fig. 4). However, also in Fig. 4,
we see that not many people answered, Yes, very much to thequestion Do you now have a better understanding of the schemeof the temporary towns? This result indicates one of the limitations of the three-hour training program. 60% answered Yes, verymuch to the question Do you think local communities could playroles in the realization of the temporary towns, houses, andstores? but only 31% answered Yes, very much to the question
on the individual's roles. This suggests that the participants did not
realize their own roles. In other words, although the design games

33of the temporary towns, houses, and stores conducted in Nukui and
Shin-koiwa provided an opportunity to learn about the idea of temporary towns, more learning programs by local leaders or experts
would be necessary.
3.4

The fourth training session: Considering town development for recovery
In the fourth training session, group work was conducted with
two groups: the Recovery policy group that discussed the principle of the town recovery development in the entire Shin-koiwa district, and the Recovery image group that examined the recovery
images of residential areas, store streets, and station plaza. As in
the third training session, the training materials were the same as
those used in the training in Nukui. Large differences from the
Nukui training are: 1. Debriefing introduced in the second andthird training sessions, and 2. Town recovery draft plans for thegroup discussion in the training sessions were produced as training
by local government and by local community associations. The
debriefing in the fourth training session was not the legal andadministrative consultation simulation as in the second and third
training sessions, but three drafts (current situation, community
association s plan, and local government s plan) were evaluatedwith the Disaster-prevention town development support
system(Note 4).
The community association's plan (Fig. 16) was created byYes, very much
1. It is essential to have a local organization
for discussing the method of town recovery
in the Shin-koiwa district.

I cannot choose

Yes, a little

75％

19％

2％
No answer

2. I have a concrete idea for activities
that the local organization should conduct
for the town recovery.

25％

40％

27％
No, I don't think so.

3. Even though discussing the recovery policy
could take time, it is important to haveexhaustive discussions and not forcedly
make majority decisions.
4. It is necessary to receive support
from architects, lawyers,
real-estate appraisers, or other experts.

60％

27％

69％

5. There is something we should do
for the town recovery before an earthquake.

6％ 4％

19％

75％

4％

21％

Fig. 5 Consciousness about the entire images of the town recovery development (Asked before the fourth training session)

Yes, very much
1. I have a better understanding of the planning process(e.g. building restrictions and the method of planning)of the town recovery development.

Yes, a little

34％

51％

I cannot choose11％
Not very much

2. For the planning of the town recovery in the district,including building restrictions, it is essential not only toreceive support from local government, but also for
local communities to have leadership.

70％

28％

2％

Fig. 6 Planning process of the town recovery and the leadership of local communities for the planning (Asked after the fourth

training session

34

T. ICHIKO, S. AIBA1, J. YOSHIKAWA, I. NAKABAYASHI AND K. TAKAMIZAWA

about 10 participants from the South Shin-koiwa town development association with the help of a planner through 4 meetings thatwere held once a week during the one-month period between thethird training session and the fourth. The local government's plan
was created by the officers at Katsushika-ku government withsome advice from the Tokyo Metropolitan government and university researchers (Fig. 17). Creation of the draft plans in the limited
period of one month and presentation of the plans were tensionfilled training sessions for both government staff and community
association members.
In the group work, as in the training in Nukui, the participants
selected an image from the Image catalog of recovering towns(Note 5) and explained the image that they wanted to realize. Then,based on the two draft plans, they discussed how the selected
image could be realized with these plans. There were opinions thatthe two plans should not be in opposition to each other but should
be mutually complementary based on the discussion on the meaning of the difference between them (Fig. 15).
Figure 5 is the result for the question on the consciousness
about the entire image of the town recovery development, which
was asked before the fourth training session. About 70% of theparticipants chose Yes, very much as the answer to the questions
1. Is it essential to have a local organization for discussing themethod of town recovery in the Shin-koiwa district? 4. Is it necessary to receive support from architects, lawyers, real-estateappraisers, or other experts? and 5. Is there something we should
do for the town recovery before an earthquake? This indicates thatthe participants acknowledged the significance of being preparedin advance for the recovery. On the other hand, fewer participants
approved of the method of determination in the question 3.
Though discussing the recovery policy could take time, is it important to have exhaustive discussions and not to forcedly makemajority decisions? and chose Yes, very much in answer to thequestion 2. Do you have concrete ideas for activities that the localorganization should conduct for the town recovery?
In the questionnaire after the fourth training session (Fig. 6),
34% of the participants answered Yes, very much to the question
about the better understanding of the planning process. Although
the ratio of the approval answers to the question Do you haveconcrete ideas for activities that the local organization should conduct for the town recovery? was relatively low in the questionnaire before the fourth training session, several opinions on thisissue were submitted after the training, such as Community associations, store streets, and Town Development Association willplay a central role in the Recovery Association, Collaboration
with new residents in high-rise condominiums is important, It
was a good opportunity since there was almost no chance for the
local government, residents, and local community to gather anddiscuss, and We need to be ready to contact experts at any time.
Experts who know much about the area are preferable. It is also
important to find and nurture such experts in the community. As
for the question Is there something we should do for the town
recovery before an earthquake? there were opinions in the group
discussion such as Collection of local information and information management and Establishment of disaster-prevention principles in the Town Development Association's activities. That is,
the participants acknowledged through the training the importanceof a loose human-resource network involving experts and local

governments, even though it is just the first step toward thedevelopment of a local recovery organization before an earthquake.
Figure 9 shows the result for the question about the participant's interest in participating in the town recovery activities.
About 50% of the local participants gave positive answers to thequestions Although the activities seem difficult, would you liketo cooperate to the best of your ability? and Would you like toparticipate in local organizations that work on the recovery andrevival? That is, the participants had an image of the opportunities
to discuss the town recovery planning in the local communities,
based on the loose network and existing local community organizations.
3.5

Participant s consciousness about all the training sessions
Figure 8 shows the participant s answers to the question about
the knowledge that they obtained through the training sessions,looking back on all the training sessions. The questions in Fig. 8
are the same as those used in the training in Nukui. 81% of the participants answered Yes, very much to the question 3. Is consultation with experts to acquire knowledge essential for disaster prevention and town recovery in the local community? This might bedue to the debriefing and the participation of the facilitators andexperts in the group work. Also, almost 60% answered Yes, verymuch to the questions on their findings in the 4. local activities
prior to a disaster and 5. measures that should be realized prior
to a disaster. Namely, the participants recognized the hardware
and software problems in preparing for a disaster.
4.

LOCAL PARTICIPANT S EVALUATION OF
TRAINING METHOD

In the preceding chapter we analyzed the content of the training sessions from the perspective of the participant s consciousness. Now we analyze the method of training, based on the participant s opinions.
Figure 9 shows the result for the question about the difficultyof the second, third and fourth training sessions. Compared to thesecond role-playing training, the participants felt that the third
training session s Considering ideal temporary housing andtowns and the fourth training session s Considering town development for recovery, both of which worked on full recovery
processes, were relatively difficult. The total percentage of the participants who chose Very difficult and Slightly difficult was
53% for the second training session, 65% for the third, and 66%
for the fourth.
Figure 10 is the result for the question about work load in thethird and fourth training sessions. (This question was not asked in
the first and second training sessions.) More participants answered
Slightly tired in the fourth training session than in the third. The
house, store, and town design games in the third training session
required not only brainstorming, but also practical work such asmodel handling and vacant-lot area measurement on the maps,
which might reduce the participant s feeling of weariness, compared to the fourth training session. The training time was 210
minutes in the first and second training sessions and 180 minutes
in the third and fourth training sessions.
Next, Fig. 11 is the participant s answers to the question about

THE NEGHIBORFOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR POST-DISASTER RECOVERY

1. Although the activities of local recovery andrevival seem difficult, I would like tocooperate to the best of my ability.

35

Yes, very muchYes, a little

49％

49％

No answer

I cannot choose

2. I would like to participate in local organizations
that work on the recovery and revival, such as
the management association of the school evacuationsites and the town recovery development association.

55％

0%

20%

36％

40%

60%

6％

80%

100%

Fig. 7 Participant's interest in participating in the town recovery activities (Asked at the end of the fourth training session)

1. I established wider human relationships in the local
community through the training.

Yes, very muchYes, a little

I cannotchoose

45％

43％

9％

n=47
42％

Not very much
2. I became aware of various experts on disaster-prevention recovery,such as architects, lawyers, and real-estate appraisers.

57％

3. Consultation with experts to acquire knowledge is essential fordisaster prevention and town recovery in the local community.

36％

81％

4. I have obtained findings about the local activities (e.g.
management training of school evacuation sites) prior to adisaster in order to prepare for it based on the training.

57％

5. I have obtained findings about the measures (e.g. fixing of
furniture and quake-resistant repairing of houses) that should be
realized prior to a disaster to prepare for it based on the training.

55％
0%

20%

15％

34％

4％

32％
40%

2％

60%

4％ 2％
80%

100%

Fig. 8 Local participant's consciousness, looking back on all the training sessions (Asked at the end of the fourth training session)

the effect of the training method. 1) and 2) are the answers collected at the end of the fourth training session and 3) is the one collected at the end of the third training session. 57% of the participants
answered Yes, very much to the question 1) Is it effective forthe local community to use large maps to take a bird's-eye view of
the areas (i.e. to create inspection maps and examine the recovery
principle)? 47% to the question 2) Is the role playing in the second training session effective image training to respond to a disaster? and 33% to the question 3) Do you now have a spatial image(e.g. on the size and density of temporary houses) of the temporary
stores and towns? The result might reflect the fact that it is rather
difficult to imagine an unreal world such as temporary houses,
stores and towns, compared with just plotting disaster-prevention
resources on the maps. One of the major problems in future program design will be determining to what extent participants should
pursue reality in the virtual world of the training.
The debriefing conducted in Shin-koiwa was effective since
the participants gave positive answers to the question on acquisition of support and knowledge from experts including architects,
lawyers, and planners.
5.

STAFF S EVALUATION OF THE TRAININGMETHODA questionnaire survey targeting the staff was conducted at
the end of the fourth training session. A total of 37 answers werecollected from 12 administrative officers, 10 students, and 15
experts. Table 17 shows the answers to the question about theexperience of participating in a town workshop (e.g. urban devel-

opment MP planning, park development, etc.) and in the disasterprevention training with local residents. 62% of the participants(23 participants) answered that they had participated in the workshop, and 57% (21 participants) gave positive answers to the question on the participation in the disaster-prevention training. Many
(32%) participated in the workshop as a facilitator, and few (14%)
in the local disaster-prevention training.
Figure 12 is the result for the question about the staff's
impression of the entire training. As in the questionnaire targetingthe local participants, the questions were taken from the questionnaire survey in the Nukui district. Many positive answers were
given to 5. High consciousness of residential members (65%chose Yes, very much ) and 6. High ability of local society(high local community power) (38% chose Yes, very much ). In
other words, the staff found few problems in the progression of the
training and some significance of it. 65% answered Yes, verymuch or Yes a little to the question on the difficulty of the training (question 4), and many positive answers were given to thequestion 2. Did you obtain clues for future activities and theirdevelopment. However 51% gave positive answers to the question
1. Did the recovery training give you the confidence to support
the town development or the local disaster-prevention training?
which indicates that all the participants were not very confident in
the support activities in other areas. Lastly, 27% of the participants
answered Yes, very much to the question 3. Is the role playingthat assumes temporary positions effective for extracting opinionsfrom residents? and a total of 68 % approved it.
The participants were encouraged in the questionnaire to write
about the method and significance of the training. Their answers

36

T. ICHIKO, S. AIBA1, J. YOSHIKAWA, I. NAKABAYASHI AND K. TAKAMIZAWA

Also there was a situation where the participants did not take theroles seriously by adopting the attitude Well, it s not a real story,
anyway.
-The debriefing succeeded in capturing the hearts of the participants and they all had serious expressions on their faces.
-It should be appraisable that the large workshop for town
recovery was realized with 60 local participants in 9 groups. On

contained many issues and here we do not summarize but justshow some of them with a slight modification of the sentences.
-I found difficulty in imagining the roles in the recovery roleplaying. We may need some refinement to solve this problem.

Difficult

The second

Slightly difficult

19％

Cannot choose

Slightly easy

Easy

16％

25％

7％

33％

Tired of too Slightly
much training tired
The third

20％

45％

22％

12％

The third 6％

2％

Well-balanced work load

More work load necessary

67％

15％

8％

2％

Much greater work
load necessary
The fourth

23％

0%

43％

20%

19％

40%

60%

13％

80%

6％

The fourth

2％

0%

100%

Fig. 9 Participant's feeling on the difficulty level of the sec-

38％

49％

20%

40%

9％

60%

80%

100%

Fig. 10 Evaluation of work load of the third and fourth train-

ond to fourth training sessions

ing sessions

1) It is effective for the local community to
use large maps to take a bird's-eye view of
the areas (i.e. to create inspection maps andexamine the recovery principle).

57％2) The role playing in the second training session
is effective image training to respond to adisaster.

40％

43％

47％

33％

3) I now have a spatial image (e.g. on the

0%

20%

40%

4％

54％

4％ 4％ 4％

60%

80%

100%

Fig. 11 Local participant's evaluation of the training method

Yes, very much
1. The recovery training gave me the confidence to support the
town development or the local disaster-prevention training. 5％

Yes, a little

I cannot choose

Not very much

46％

38％

11％

62％

16％

2. I obtained clues for future activities and their development.

3. The role playing that assumes temporary
positions is effective for extracting opinions from residents.

41％

27％

4. Although the training was well executed, it was difficult for me.

16％

14％

51％

14％

5. I recognized the high consciousness of residential
member in, for example, the constant number of participants
and their positive attitudes in the group work.
6. I recognized the high ability of local society (high local
community power), which could be a result of the town
development and local activities so far conducted.

0%

20%

19％

24％

43％

38％

40%

Fig. 12 Staff's evaluation of the training

60%

5％

14％

11％

65％

n=37

8％

19％

80%

100%

THE NEGHIBORFOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR POST-DISASTER RECOVERY

Fig. 13 Result of temporary house design gameFig. 16 Town Development Association's draft plan for the

town development principle (used for the training)

Fig. 15 Example evaluation of town development principle
Fig. 14 Result of temporary store design game

diagram (In the fourth training session)

Fig. 17 Katsushika-ku government draft plan for the town development principle (used for the training)

37

38

T. ICHIKO, S. AIBA1, J. YOSHIKAWA, I. NAKABAYASHI AND K. TAKAMIZAWA

W.S. of participation
in town development(5)Major participants

Major supporting experts
Administrative department
in charge
Estimated number ofparticipants
Evaluation points of the
training program-Local community
organizations-Stakeholders-Citizens who
voluntarily participatedArchitects, planners,
lawyers, caseworkers-Urban development
department
10-15

Neighborhood
community-training
program for post-disasterrecoveryIntegration

Cooperative network type
Cooperative project type
30-50

Disaster-prevention
training in local
communities-Local community
organizations-Local activity associations
such as Child associations,
Woman associations, etc
Fire control organizations-Disaster-prevention
department
Can be more than 100

Growth of common
recognition about “town”
Sharing of target image oftown development
Acquiring knowledge of
responses to a disaster
Maintaining the level of
response technology
Local communication

Fig. 18

Positioning of neighborhood community-training program for post-disaster recovery(Note 6)

the other hand, each participant should make effort in consideringand responding to the future ripple effects of the workshop in thelocal community.
-The role of local residents should be clarified. In other words,
it needs to be made clear whether emphasis should be placed oncollecting opinions from the participants as local residents or oneach participant's learning training about the recovery. I was
unable to figure out the required level at each part of the training.
-There should be some mechanism for linking to the development of hardware. In order to make a connection between the
training and actual town development planning, the local government should provide financial and human support.
-As preparation for a disaster, cooperation among the local
government, local organizations, and experts needs to be strengthened and the cooperation should be demonstrated in the form ofmodels or drawing sheets, which are to be revised on a regularbasis and used for making a new plan.
As Aiba(4) pointed out, in order to overcome the difficulty inimagining the town recovery, the techniques developed in the town
development design games could be improved for the recovery
training, and realistic, maybe severe, aspects of the town recovery
should be offered, for example by inviting experts from HanshinAwaji area.
6.

POSITIONING OF NEIGHBORHOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM

In this article, we analyzed the participant s consciousness
about each training session in Chapter 3, the participant's consciousness about the method of training in Chapter 4, and thestaff's evaluation of the training in Chapter 5. Ichiko (3) classified
the pre-disaster recovery theory into (1) estimation of damages, (2)concrete planning, (3) sharing of recovery procedure, and (4) actual town development for disaster prevention, and showed the relation between the present program and the one for the Nukui district. The program in the Shin-koiwa district brought new dimensions in particular to (2) and (3). That is, the local Town
Development Association produced a guideline diagram as a partof the training for realizing (2) concrete planning. The plan wasbarely feasible and there remained a problem on how the training
could be reflected to a concrete town-development planning, but
the recovery planning was built in the training program for the firsttime, which was not in the program for the Nukui district. Also,
since the experts highly evaluated the training, we can be sure thatthe loose network with various experts and the existing local
community organizations would be used for discussing the town
recovery development plan. This is another progress.
The principles shown by the Town Development Associationand the local government in the fourth training session both included previously-made plans and ideas. Through the fourth training
session the participants acknowledged that the town recovery wasan opportunity to complete future visions that the town already had
before a disaster, and that it was too late to discuss the future
image of the town after the disaster. So the training is effective not
only at the initial stage of the recovery process, but also for revising the recovery plan several years after it was made and re-activating the activities.
The programs for the Nukui and Shin-koiwa district were notinterrupted. As seen in Fig. 7, more than half of the participants in
Shin-koiwa looked forward to the active participation in the town

THE NEGHIBORFOOD COMMUNITY-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR POST-DISASTER RECOVERY

recovery development activities. This suggests that the participants were actually motivated by the training. The training shouldbe evaluated as a work experience with great significance. Lastly,
for further development of the neighborhood community-training
program for post-disaster recovery, we would like to propose ahypothesis that this training is positioned in a fusion region of two
existing social learning programs, i.e. the workshop for participation in town development and disaster-prevention training led by
local communities. The overview is given in Fig. 18. The figure
shows the following. The major participants and administrative
department in charge of the training program are the integration orcooperative types. The program could be conducted aiming at
growth of common recognition about town and target image
sharing of town development, which were emphasized in the town
development workshop. Or it could be conducted aiming at theevaluation of acquiring knowledge of responses to a disaster,which is important for disaster-prevention training, and regular
repetition for keeping the response technology level. Namely, thetraining program can be derived from the existing programs.
* Tokyo Metropolitan University s research survey was conducted as part of the System development for the establishment
and agreement of recovery planning in the Special project fordamage reduction of large disasters in major towns (2002-2006,
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology).
Note
Note 1) Youth Development Local Committee consists of committee members, groups, and organizations related to youth
development, such as Youth Development Committee members, exercise trainer members, probation officers, Child
Committee members, Child development group members,
PTA, schools, resident's associations, etc. The head office islocated at the Department of Youth, Katsuhika-ku, Tokyo.
Note 2) The Tokyo Metropolitan survey is the questionnaire thatwas conducted on 500 individuals by the Bureau of Citizens
and Cultural Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan in December 2003.
Note 3) Debriefing is feedback from design game experiences toactual town development. For details, see Reference 5.
Note 4) For the system used, see Reference 7.
Note 5) "Image catalog of recovering towns" is a list of 100 photographs of towns that recovered in the Hanshin area with an

39

explanation of recovery mechanisms, including recovery
activities.
Note 6) Aiba's theory that community-based town reconstruction
and disaster-prevention recovery town development can interact with each other from viewpoints such as "communication," "main body and organization," and "planning systemand process" served as a good reference for the idea of Fig.
18(6).
REFERENCES
I. Nakabayashi, Concept and scope of Pre-disaster planning,
Toshikeikaku, No.205, pp.23-26, 2005 (in Japanese).
S. Aiba, T. Ichiko, J. Yoshikawa, I. Nakabayashi, H. Murakami,
and K. Takamizawa, The community-training method forcommunity based urban reconstruction planning,Technological Reports, Architectural Institute of Japan, Vol.
20, pp.337-382, 2004 (in Japanese).
T. Ichiko, T. Onoda, H. Murakami, S. Aiba, J. Yoshikawa, and I.
Nakabayashi, Design and trial of community training fortown recovery from earthquake disaster based on pre-disasterrecovery theory, Journal of Institute of Social Safety Science,
No.6 pp.357-366, 2004 (in Japanese).
S. Aiba, T. Ichiko, I. Nakabayashi, J. Yoshikawa, and K.
Takamizawa, Report 2 of community training for town
recovery from earthquake disaster with community-based
recovery technique: On the activities of Shin-koiwa,
Katsushika-ku, Proceedings of Institute of Social Safety
Science, 2005 (in Japanese).
S. Sato, H. Shimura, N. Uchida, S. Aiba, S. Kawahara, Y. Mano,and T. Ariga, Town development design game, Gakugeshuppan, 2005 (in Japanese).
S. Aiba, Development history of community-based town development method and possibility of its growth toward town development for disaster-prevention recovery, Sogo-toshi Kenyu,
Vol. 80, pp.79-96, 2003 (in Japanese).
T. Kato, O. Koide, S. Toshimitsu, M. Sugiura, and H. Shimomura,
The role and function planning support system for district
improvement plan for earthquake damage mitigation,
Technological Reports, Architectural Institute of Japan, Vol.
16, pp.313-316, 2002 (in Japanese).