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This report was compiled by an ADRC visiting researcher (VR) from ADRC
member countries.
The views expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views ofthe ADRC. The boundaries and names shown and the designations usedon the maps in the report also do not imply official endorsement or
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Tracking system and management of
donated goods in Japan

Rujira Chariyaphan
S i l worker,
Socialk
Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation((DDPM))
Ministry of Interior,ThailandContents¾ THE GREAT EAST JJAPAN EARTHQUAKEQ((GEJE)J )¾ OVERVIEW OF THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM¾ COORDINATION DISASTER RELIEF DURING THE GEJE.

1. Cabinet office
2. Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW)
3.The Roles of Municipality, Prefectural and Central government
4. NGOs, INGOS and Volunteer¾ PROBLEMS AND CAUSES OF RELIEF MATERIAL MANAGEMENT IN THE GEJE
¾ CONCLUSION

1. THE GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE (GEJE)
This iis thThi
the fourthf th largestlt earthquaketh kin the world and the largest in Japan
since instrumental recordings
g in 1900. The earthquake
qbegangenerated the deadliest tsunami
since the 2004 magnitude 9.1
Sumatra earthquake and tsunami
causedd nearlyl 230,000
230 000 deathsd th andd$10 billion in damage. This is themost devastating earthquake top since the 1995 Kobe
occur in JJapan
earthquake caused over 6,400
deaths and the deadliest tsunami
since the 1993 Hokkaido
earthquake
th k generated
t d a tsunamitiwhich was responsible for over 200
deaths.

INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE
Japan had received offers of assistance from at least 134
countries and 39 international organizations and 670 NGO’s.

2 OVERVIEW OF THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
2.
yCURRENT DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF JAPAN IS BASED ON DISASTER
COUNTERMESURES BASIC ACT,, WHICH WAS ENACT IN 1961yACCORDING TO THE DCBA, DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN JAPAN IS IMPLEMENTED ATTHERE LEVELS:NATIONAL,PREFECTURAL,AND MUNICIPALOUTLINE OF THE DISASTER
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMCENTRAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT COUNCILy Centrall Disaster Management Councill consists off theh prime minister, whoh isthe chairperson, Minister of State for Disaster Management, all ministers, headsof major public institutions and experts. The council promotes comprehensive
disaster countermeasures including deliberating important issues on disaster
reduction according to requests from the Prime Minister or Minister of Statefor Disaster Management.

STRUCTURE OF BASIC DISASTER
MANAGEMENT PLAN

MISSION OF THE CABINET OFFICE
Along withAl
ith a series
i off reforms
foff theth centralt l governmentt systemt iin
2001, the post of Minister of State for Disaster Management was newly establishedto integrate and coordinate disaster reduction policies and measures ofg
In the Cabinet Office,, which is responsiblepfor securingg
ministries and agencies.
cooperation and collaboration among related government organizations in wideranging issues, the Director-General for Disaster Management is mandated toundertake the planning of basic disaster management policies and response tollarge-scale
l didisasters,t
as wellll as conduct
d t overallll coordination.
di tiAdditionally, taking into account the lessons learned from the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the Cabinet Secretariat system was also strengthened,
including the appointment of the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis
Management and the establishment of the Cabinet Information Collection Center,to strengthen risk management functions to address emergencies such as largescale disasters and serious accidents. Thereby, the Cabinet Office has a role insupporting the Cabinet Secretariat regarding disaster management matters.

ORGANIZATION OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
AND CABINET OFFICE（DISASTER MANAGEMENT）

Disaster Relief Act
The purpose of the law is to provide essential emergency
relief in the event of a disaster through the cooperation oflocal governments, non-governmental organizations, suchas the Japanese Red Cross Society, and the general public,so as to protect the disaster victims and maintain socialorder.

DISASTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE
MANAGEMENT.
((1))

Outline of Disaster Responsep
The national and local governments need to quickly collect andshare disaster and damage information, and secure communications sothat they can carry out eﬀective emergency activities such as search andrescue and medical operations. Based on such information, local
governments set up a disaster management headquartersand relatedorganizations
gestablish their own operations
pmechanism.
（2） Wide-area Support System
In the case of large-scale disasters that exceed the response
capabilities of the affected local government,variousgovernment various widewide-areaarea support
mechanisms are mobilized by the National Police Agency(Interprefectural Emergency Rescue Unit), Fire and DisasterManagementgAgency
g y ((Emergencyg y Fire Rescue Team),and),Japan
J p Coast
Guard. Furthermore, the Self-Defense Forces can be dispatched foremergency response activities upon request from the governor of theaﬀected pprefectural government.
gCABINET OFFICE DISASTER RESPONSE MECHANISMDISASTER RESPONSE MECHANISM

3. COORDINATION DISASTER RELIEF DURINGTHE GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE(GEJE).
1) CCabinet
bi t office
ffi
1.1 Coordination of international Disaster Relief

1 2 Government
1.2Gt DisasterDi t Management
M
tHHeadquartersdt

1.3 Role of Government Headquaters in Facitating
Relife Goods2) Ministry of Health,
Health Labour,
Labour and Welfare(MHLW)

Under Disaster Relief Act, MHLW , in cooperation
with prefecture governments,governments is the key organization
to conduct disaster relief and assistance policy during
g ‐disasters. Disaster relief and assistancelarge‐scale
policy including the urgent rescue and evacuationactivities of the Ministry are managed by the Social
W lf andd WarWelfare
W Victims’
Vi i ’ Relief
R li f B
Bureau throughhh thehpermanent Disaster Relief Contact‐Coordination
Council established under the authority of theMinistry.

3)) The Roles of Municipality,
p y, Prefectural andCentral government
3 1 The Roles of Municipality
3.1
 Damage assessment, counting of affected people, report toprefecture Assessment of affected people
people’ss needs
 Acception of procured material from central government andprefecture and donated materials and their distribution Food distribution
3.2 The Roles Prefectural
 Damage assessment and counting of affected people Compiling affected people’s needs assessments
 Distribution of materials procured as distributioin stock materials
 Coordination of relief materials across prefectures
 Request to central government about material beyond prefecture’s
procurement capacity
 Receipt of materials procured by central government as well as donatedmaterials and distbitution to municipalities

3.3 The Roles Central government Damage
Dassessment andd counting
i off affected
ff d peoplelCompiling affected people’s needs assessments
 MaterialM
l procurement bby distributioin
d bstockk materials
l andd underd
support agreement
 Coordination of relief materials across prefectures
 Request to central government about material beyond prefecture’s
procurement capacityi Coordination of donated materials4) NGOs,INGOS and Volunteer

 Japanese Red Cross (JRCS)
 Japan Platfrom
 Japan NGO Center For International Cooperation(JANIC) JICAPROBLEMS AND CAUSES OF RELIEF MATERIALMANAGEMENT IN GEJE
1.Distribution to affected people
1.1 Length of time to distribute minimum food and drinking water- Malfunction of distribution stockpile system- Difficulties of situation assessment in affected areas
d to information
duei fi shutdown
h d- Inequality of amount of material among affected
Municipalities- Difference of community’s support among affected municipalities
1 2 Lack of transportation capacity in affected areas
1.2- Loss of vehicles by tsunami

1.3 Material distribution to evacuees at home
-Difficulties in situation assessment of evacuees at home
-Lack of recognition by municipalities
1 4 Time
1.4
Ti llag iin materialt i l distribution
di t ib ti- Consideration in equality among evacuees
2. Storage of materials

2.1 Difficulties in finding stockyards
2.2 Heavy burden on officials
2.3 Ineffective utilization of distribution companies
2 4 Difficulties
2.4
Diffi lti ini inventory
it managementt
2.5 A large number of excessive materials
2 6 Distribution of donated materials containing mixed items
2.6

3 Material procurement3.
3.1 Malfunction of mutual support system at disaster time
3 2 Difficulties in making procurement request to prefecture
3.2
from municipality
3 3 Difficulties
3.3
Diffi lti iin needs
d assessmentt off affected
ff t d areas byb central
t lgovernment and prefecture
4 Material4.
M t i l ttransportationt ti tto affected
ff t d areas
4.1 Confusion in truck transportation-Lack
L k off fuel
f l-Insufficient road information-Insufficient information sharing between cargo and recipient-Information shutdown

CONCLUSION
I. Plan for Relief

1. Japan has Disaster Relief Act to provide essential emergency
relief in the event of a disaster through the cooperation of local
governments, non-governmental organizations, such as the Japanesey, and the general
gpublic,p, so as to protect
pthe disaster
Red Cross Society,victims and maintain social order
22.TheThe Basic Disaster Management Plan of the country definedprocedures for accepting and facilitating international disaster relief
Goods33. When a large-scalelarge scale disaster strikes,strikes an emergency teamcomposed of the director generals of the respective ministries andagencies gathers immediately at the Crisis Management Center in thePrime Minister's Office to grasp and analyze the disaster situation,andd reportt theth results
lt tot theth Prime
P i Minister.
Mi i t
44. The roles of Municipal,Municipal Prefectural and Central Government
Municipal government has primary responsibility in disasteremergency responseresponse. When a disaster is large scale and is under
Disaster Relief Act, prefecture conducts disaster relief activities.
Materials are purchased from private companies within theprefecture and procured from other prefectures under regional
support system.

II Disaster Emergency Response Management.
II.
Management
5. Government Disaster Management Headquarters set up
international coordination team to review offer of international relief
and coordination with related ministries for facilitating the relief work,
once an offer is accepted.
accepted.The
The Team comprises of supervisory staff and16 members from CAO, MoFA, MoJ, MoF, MLIT, MHLW, NPA, MEXTand JTFC.
6. The Government Headquarters facilitated distribution of relief
goods offered by foreign governments by studying and developing local
needs from affected municipalities and matching them with the offers.
offers
The headquarters also supported domestic transport and interim storage.
p has received 134 offers of assistance7. The Government of JJapan
from countries as well as 39 offers from international organizations. It
has accepted relief items from 29 countries and internationalorganizations.
organizations

III. Volunteer Coordination
8 Japan
8.
JR dC
RedCross SSocietyi t (JRCS)
Disaster relief activities are conducted as a mission of the Red Cross under
the Japanese Red Cross Law and its statutes. In addition, the JRCS is designated asa “DesignatedDesignated Public CorporationCorporation” by the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act andthe Disaster Relief Act, and is required to co-operate with the Government tooffer relief assistance in times of disaster. The contents of such assistance aregwith the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.
provided for under an agreement
9. The Government of Japan’s EmergencyManagement agencies lead theresponse through the Emergency ResponseTeam
Response Team.TheThe Chief Cabinet Secretary’s
Secretary s
Office is responsible for coordinating volunteer groups and NGOs through its
Volunteers Coordination Unit to facilitate the communication and exchange ofi f
information
i among theh organizations
i i to support theh survivors.
iCoordination
C di i off
international NGOs and their local partners was done by Japan Platform andJANIC .

IV IInternationalIV.
ttilN
Non-Governmental
Gt l
Organization Coordination (INGO)
9. In coordination with the government, Japan Platform (aninternational emergency
g y humanitarian aid organization)
gand
the Japan Non-Governmental Organization Center forInternational Cooperation (acting as part of the Japan Civil
Network for Disaster Relief in East Asia) served as the keyorganizations coordinating with international nongovernmental organizations.

Th k youThank