I C U SNewsletter
Volume 12

Number1

Apr. to Jun. 2012

International Center for Urban Safety Engineering
Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo

Recovery as it should be:
the philosophy of recovery and disaster mitigation
By Yoshiteru Murosaki
Professor, Kwansei Gakuin University
In talking about the Tohoku
earthquake recovery efforts, it isnecessary for us to re-determine
what is meant by recovery and thus
realign our perspectives on how it
can be best approached for the caseof Tohoku.
The dictionary defines ‘recovery’
as “restoring or bringing back tomomentum what was in a declining
state”.
Further to this, in recent times, there
has been a trend towards what may
be termed as ‘reformative recovery’
from the traditional ‘restorative

recovery’. This change implies
two things. One is that recovery is
no longer concerned with only thebuilt environment; it also comprisesof economic and cultural aspects
within it. Second is that recovery
is no longer simply considered asa process of restoration where theaffected area is brought back to its
previous state, but rather a processof creation in which new standards
and orders are defined including
government and social reforms.
Therefore, reformative recovery
shows significant qualitative change

compared to the restorative form ofrecovery.
This article discusses the principles
of reformative recovery and how it
can be best approached in the caseof Tohoku recovery.
Goals of disaster recovery

There are three essential goalsof disaster recovery: financial
independence, safety, and reform.
If any of these three are missing,it cannot be called a successful
recovery.

Stepping towards recovery: This pair of photos shows the same location in Shizugawa, Minami Sanriku,
June 2011 (left) and Feb 2012 (right). Rubbles that had covered the riverside have been cleared away.

The ability to financially selfsupport oneself is essential for
people to regain confidence andwork towards improving theirlivelihood. However, the current
situation in Tohoku is that people
are jobless. Without the means tosustain themselves, they cannot be
expected to think about ways tosustain the community. Therefore,
perhaps even more important thanthe housing issue, is the creation ofjobs. Providing ways to earn willlead to self-reliance, and can solve
the housing problems if people canearn a well-enough living to rebuild
their houses without having torely on the government. Hence thefirst key factor is how to facilitate
financial independence as part of therecovery.

Minami Sanriku government office built
temporarily on tennis court (June 2011)

Safety is the second key factor. In
considering this, it is necessary tothink about what is meant by ‘safety.’
It is of course important to save lives
in the event of future disasters, but
it is equally important to save thelivelihood of people. In cases such as
Tohoku, where people’s livelihood
is closely linked to the geographicallandscape (e.g. fishery), there is highchance for conflicts to occur. For
example, raising the height of thelevee or moving to higher ground
may protect the citizens fromfuture tsunamis, but it also createsa barrier for the fishermen whose
livelihood is dependent on the sea.
Hence, physical safety and financial

Page 2independence are essential but not
sufficient. Preserving the cultural
identity is equally important for therecovery of the community.
Reform is necessary at the societal
level to avoid social vulnerability
which tends to amplify the negative
impacts of disasters. Municipality
re-structuring and creation ofeffective organizational networks
are some possible ways to bringreform.
Power of recovery

What implies a successful
recovery? Is it to restore to theprevious state, or bring it up to abetter state? Previous recovery
examples have revealed that therecovery process can produce four
different spring-effects, which canlead to an improved state.
First is the promotion of anindomitable spirit among thevictims. Giving people hope andcourage when they are hopelessfacilitates this spirit and leads torecovery.
Second is the sense of solidarity.
If community connections aremaintained, then mutual support canbe expected. For this, it is importantto provide several opportunities andoptions; limited choices will foster
dispute and prevent collaboration.
Third is the ability to reflect
and understand what went wrong.
Often times, the underlying causesof disasters are embedded within
the society. No doubt the tsunami
caused major damage in Tohoku,
but the already existing issues ofdeclining population, scarcity ofavailable medical facilities, anddeteriorating economic growthof regional communities also
contributed to impact of the disaster.
Hence, to mitigate the risk for future

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 12, No.1

disasters, one needs to look beyond
the physical aspects and reevaluate
the underlying factors.
The last is proper investment inresources for reconstruction. Proper
utilization of financial and humanresources will ensure the creation ofa better city/town.
Conditions for recovery

There are three important
approaches to consider for the
progress of recovery.
One is the story-oriented approach.
The victims should be the protagonists
and the recovery should represent
their stories, feelings, and needs.
It is necessary to determine how
to incorporate their requirements
within the recovery plan.
Another is the step-by-step
recovery approach. This calls forthe division of recovery planning inphases. Planning should “descendfrom general to particulars”. Overall
recovery decisions need to be madetop-down as soon as possible withthe far future in mind, where as themore specific issues of neighborhood
rebuilding require more time and abottom-up initiative. Thus, recovery
goals and strategies need to be
divided into short-term, mediumterm and long-term.
Inclusive recovery is the third
approach and reiterates the factthat safety is not the only goal ofrecovery. It is necessary to thinkof livelihood as a whole, andsimultaneously consider community,
economy, welfare, education andthe environment to realize a better
society.
Principles of disasterrisk-reduction

In disaster risk-reduction, working

Implications for Tohoku

housing

Regional community

Risk management system

LivingLivelihood recovery

Creation
Machizukuri

SupportCollaborative system of civil society

Governance that supports recovery

Planning for disaster

Life
Protect andrescue life

education

integratively. An all-inclusive
approach which concurrently
considers environment, medicine,
welfare, education, and industry
through a step-by-step recovery
program can ensure progress-slowly but surely. The first step isto satisfy the immediate needs ofpeople through recreation of jobs
and livelihood to boost the selfreliance status of people and boost
their confidence. Next, enabling
people to live together will lead tocommunity rebuilding, which thenfollows on to the development of theregion as a whole –restoring to full
health. But the point worth noting
here is that even the immediatetasks need to be approached with thelong-term goal in mind. Hence, therecovery process must be designedwith at least a 20 year timeframe.
Jobs / economy

with nature, as opposed to against
nature, is important. And thisrequires a proper understanding of
the relationship between man andthe nature.
Against the immense power ofnature, we are insignificant. And
thus, taking the stance of “disasterrisk-reduction” by setting standards
for acceptable risk, rather thanaiming for a full-proof “disasterprevention”, is more realistic.
In disaster risk-reduction systems,“the addition of strategic measuresleads to the subtraction of damage”,
and the goal of the planner is todesign an effective subtraction.
To achieve this, it is important toconsider ways to combine different
types of strategic measures: forexample, how to integrate ‘hard’aspects such as the structural designof a levee with the ‘soft’ issues
such as the social system of thecommunity. Effective integrationof these can enable the creation of astronger urban infrastructure as well
as social vulnerability reduction.
It is also necessary to note thatfor proper planning with feasibility
and effectiveness in mind, theorganization of the disaster riskreduction system should change
depending on the characteristics ofthe risk of the region.

An integrated concept of recovery

risk-reduction

The most essential part of planningfor disaster risk-reduction is, asmentioned before, to look at theoverall picture (see diagram), andunify the whole and the part throughfinding the relation of each element
to the whole environment.
In the ideal case of recovery, allof the three approaches explained
previously
maybe
utilized

So how can these principles beapplied to the case of Tohoku?
In affected areas where themajor driving force is the primaryor the secondary industry, it ismost important to prioritize theaid for industry and jobs. This canbe achieved through provisionof necessary infrastructure forfishery, agriculture and farming,
etc. The recovery can also belinked with consumer tax andits circulation which will lead tonational development. And mostof all the focus needs to be on the
improvement of existing industries
as well as support for new emerging
industries local initiative.
The regeneration of the community
and its continuation is dependent
on human connections. Thus
people must live together. If they
are to move to higher ground, thecommunity must move as a whole.
The use of the ballot system for theselection of temporary housing andpublic housing must be avoided as it
separates people. At the same time
however, we must also consider theright of choice of people and allow
them the freedom to leave the area ifthey wish to do so.
Preservation is also important.
Considering how to properly
utilize the abundance of naturethat is available in Tohoku to
mitigate future disaster risks isnecessary. Equally important, is thepreservation of history and culture
unique to that region, along with the“disaster culture” which may assist
future generations in planning fordisaster mitigation.
Reform can be carried out
through the process of rebuilding
the governance of the region. The
promotion of decentralization,
autonomy and cooperation throughrecovery can work to raise thegoverning power of the region.
The collaboration between the four
sectors of community, government,
business,
andintermediaryorganization (NPO, etc.) can also
help facilitate this.
(Edited by Y. Bhattacharya)

ICUS Newsletter Apr. to Jun. 2012

Page 3

22nd and 23rd ICUS Open Lecture held at IIS
By T. Kato

The 22nd ICUS Open Lecture
was held at IIS on April 16, gathering
about 280 participants under thetheme “Consideration of Recovery
from Great East Japan Earthquake
and Tsunami Disaster from the Bird
View”. This unparalleled disasterin history revealed many problems
from various perspectives.
Lectures and discussions focusedmore on problems from different
viewpoints rather than pursuingdetails.
Professor
Yoshiteru
Murosaki, Kwansei Gakuin Univ.,
talked about the philosophyof post-disaster recovery fromvarious aspects. Professor Itsuki
Nakabayashi, Meiji Univ., pointed
out the balance between post-disaster recovery and preparedness/
mitigation for the upcoming
disasters such as the Nankai Troughearthquake, while also proposing
the concept of “pre-disaster andpost-disaster recovery action in
Japan”. Prof. Hiroshi Suzuki,
Professor Emeritus at Fukushima
Univ. explained about the complex
problems that Fukushima faces,
pointing out the crucial issues atpresent. Dr. Yukio Kawakami,

who had served as Vice-Minister
for National and Regional Bureau,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism, presented
issues on national and regional
planning. The following session,
coordinated by Dr. Takaaki Kato
from ICUS, IIS, featured timely
discussions for the recovery, with
its feedback to be given back later tothe afflicted areas.

(left to right) Dr. Kawakami, Prof. Murosaki, Prof. Suzuki, Prof. Nakabayashi＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊The 23rd ICUS Open Lecture
was held at IIS on May 20 with
about 200 participants. The theme
was “Reports of Current Situationfrom Afflicted Areas in Great East
Japan Earthquake Disaster”. It
was also the first attempt for ICUS
to host consecutive symposiums
titled “Recovery from the Disaster”
with Japan Society of Urban andRegional Planning (JSURP).
Social information sharing under
the current post-disaster recovery
stage is extremely important, as
proved in the past experiences of theKobe Earthquake disaster. However,
it is not an easy task in times of suchmassive disaster.
Five
speakers,
dedicating
themselves in the planning of theafflicted areas, discussed on theactual on-site situations, whichshowed a clear contrast with the22nd Open Lecture. The presenterswere Messrs. Toru Hiji (OtsuchiTown), Masunori Kusaka (Onagawa
Town), Takao Sato (Ofunato City),
Tadayoshi Inoue (Shinchi Town),
and Tsuyoshi Takanabe (JSURP)*.
Their heated reports were impressive
and rich in content, and we wish
there was more space on page tointroduce the details.
At the fellowship banquet, panel

discussion continued for sevenhours! This marathon-like exchange
served as a valuable opportunity forsharing information, and its outcome
will contribute to the recovery of theafflicted areas. We all look forward
to the next symposium!
*Mr. T. Hiji (Otsuchi Town): establishedNPO for recovery support immediately
after disaster. Mr. M. Kusaka (Onagawa
Town): urban planner from Urban
Renaissance Co. (UR) supporting the local
governments. Mr. T. Sato (Ofunato City):
member of recovery planning committee
authorized by the local government. Mr. T.
Inoue (Shinchi Town): was sent by JSURP
to support the local government. Mr. T.
Takanabe (JSURP): experienced working
in fishery villages.

Speakers from disaster-stricken areas (left to right) : T. Sato, T. Hiji, T. Inoue, T. Takanabe and M. Kusaka

Page 4

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 12, No.1

Research Committee 81 starts
By T. Kato

With the completion of RC 67,
ICUS has launched a new industryacademia study, RC81, from FY2012,
coordinated by Dr. Takaaki Kato.
Tokyo has been exposed to megaflood risk, which will inevitably
increase along with climate change,
eventually leading to serious crisis.
Damage estimation by the Cabinet
Office, Government of Japan, predicts
huge damage caused by mega-flood.
Yet, there is still time left for taking
measures. The object of RC81 is towork out a kind of improved andsecured urban technology package
to prepare for the coming mega

The first meeting of RC81

flood in mega-cities.
Urban
technologies
under
discussion include infrastructure
and urban planning policies. At
present, private companies fromdifferent business sectors are themain members of the study group,with governmental organizations andNPOs participating as observers.
We hope the output will contributein policy making and help to improvesafety in cities.

Powerful tornado attacks Tsukuba Science City
By H. Sawada

A vicious tornado attacked
Tsukuba Science City in Ibaragi
Prefecture, located about 50 km
north of Tokyo, on May 6, 2012.
The tornado with F3 intensity
rushed through the city for 17 km at
the speed of 60 km/h, leaving severe
damages to houses, trees, electricpoles and cars. Damage in Tsukuba
included one person fatally injured
and 37 wounded. Houses destroyed
totaled 622: 76 completely, 158 halfand 388 partially. (Fire and Disaster
Management Agency)

A wooden residence standing

Destroyed houses

at the edge of a paddy field wascompletely turned upside-down fromits foundation. Some other wooden
houses collapsed completely with only
wooden materials scattered aroundthe remains of the foundations.
Damaged roofs were mostcommonly observed along the
tornado path. A five-story apartment
directly facing the tornado route
received serious damage on its
window glasses and frames,
particularly on the upper floors.

Five-story apartment and its neighborhood

Toppled electric poles

ICUS Newsletter Apr. to Jun. 2012

Page 5

The Society of Women Civil Engineers marks 30th
anniversary
By R. Kuwano

The Society of Women Civil
Engineers (SWCE) is a non-profit
organization that empowers women
civil engineers in Japan to continue
serving in the community. Founded
in 1983 by 30 members, SWCE has
been the sole independent leading
community supporting female
engineers who widely cover various
fields of civil engineering. The
Society also supports nurturing of
future women engineers in Japan.
Currently,
approximately
200
members belong to SWCE.
Dr. Reilko Kuwano, Associate
Professor at ICUS, serves as SWCE’s
fifth president. The majority ofthe members, who are in theirthirties or forties, have graduatedfrom universities after the Equal
Employment Opportunity Law was

SWCE members in celebration

enforced in 1986. Members work
either as freelance or as employees of
construction companies, consulting
firms, national or local governments
and universities.
On June 22, a forum celebrating
SWCE’s 30th anniversary was heldat the IIS Convention Center, theUniversity of Tokyo. The themeof the forum was “Future of Civil
Engineering: Reconsideration of
the Role of Civil Engineers”. Over220 participants of the forum, themajority of which being women,
together discussed the significanceof civil engineering missions.

Lectures at Public Works Research Institute
By M. Ohara

On March 15, the InstituteofIndustrial
Science(IIS)
exchanged MOU (Memorandumof Understanding) with the Public
Works Research Institute (PWRI). In
its commemoration, on March 27,
Professor Kimiro Meguro and Dr.
Miho Ohara gave special lectures at
PWRI. The current Chief Executiveof PWRI is Dr. Uomoto, the former
Director of ICUS.
Prof. Meguro introduced theresearch activities at ICUS. He
continued to talk about the “Necessary
Perspectives for Future Disaster
Management in Japan”, pointing
out some disaster management
problems revealed in the 2011 Great
East Japan Earthquake disaster. The
urgent need to make research on

Page 6

future disaster risks in Japan wasemphasized.
Dr. Ohara talked about the“Effective Use of Earthquake Early
Warning (EEW)”, introducing
survey results on how citizens andmanufacturing companies reacted
to the EEW system after the 2011
disaster. She envisioned the regionaltendency of the future EEW effects,
and also described the necessary
strategies to make better use of thisICUS Newsletter Vol. 12, No.1

warning system.
Under the MOU, special lectures,featuring recent research progress andstudy results of the two institutions,will be given on a regular basis thisyear, both at IIS and PWRI.
ICUS welcomes the collaboration
with PWRI researchers, and looks
forward to a productive outcome infuture joint studies

Special lectures by
Prof. Meguro and Dr. Ohara
Public works research institute(Tsukuba City) and
Civil engineering research
institute for cold region (CERI)

IIS Open House 2012
By S. Kondo

IIS Open House was held June
1 and 2, organized by the Instituteof Industrial Science (IIS), theUniversity of Tokyo. This event
offers an opportunity for peopleof all ages, nationalities andprofessions to explore the IIS
campus and learn about its research
activities. Since 2001, ICUS hascontinued to participate, aiming to
widely give out information about
its activities and increase awarenessof the importance of urban safety
from many aspects.
About half of the 200 visitors to
ICUS enjoyed the quiz competition.

Popular giveaway:
handy wind-up LED
flashlight

Visitors enjoy ICUS quiz games at
the IIS Open House 2012

Winners were awarded with original
giveaways, including a handy windup LED flashlight which can be usedwithout battery in case of power
failure.

Participants visited each lab,
asking researchers questions andsearching for answers. Through thisfun activity, ICUS hopes that visitors
become more aware of urban safety.

ICUS Activities April – June
❖ Dr. Reiko Kuwano visited San

Diego, U.S.A., from Jun. 27- Jul.
1 to attend ASTM InternationalSymposia&
workshopsSymposium on Dynamic Testingof Soil and Rock❖ Dr. Kohei Nagai attended Society
for Social Management Systems
2012 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from
Mar. 28-Apr. 2. He also visited

the University of Brescia, Italy,
from Jun. 16-20 to attend Bond inConcrete 2012
❖ Dr. Akiyuki Kawasaki was at AITin Bangkok, Thailand, from Apr.
4-May 29, and again Jun. 19-Jul.
14 for the operation of RNUS
office and to give lectures. He
also traveled to Singapore fromMay 3-5 and Madrid, Spain,from Jun. 17-20 for meetings
on the Mekong River research
project.
❖ Professor Haruo Sawada, Visiting
Professor Yasuyoshi Ichihashi
and Ms. Eiko Yoshimoto visited
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, forcoordination and preparation of
USMCA 2012.

Awards and Honors❖ Professor

Mikio Koshihara
received the Prize of AIJ 2012,
awarded by the Architectural
Institute of Japan, on May 30. The
Prize was presented in recognitionof his specific contributions
in division preservation andsustainable utilization of Hizuchi

Elementary School, which is a
representative work of woodframe modern architecture.
❖ Mr. Makoto Fujiu, Ph.D student
in Meguro/Ohara Lab., received
the Excellent Presentation Awardat the Annual Conference ofInstitute of Social Safety Scienceon Jun. 15 in Wajima, Ishikawa,Japan. His research was entitled“Study on Implementation of
Building Damage Assessmentof Local Governments after The
2011 off the Pacific coast of
Tohoku Earthquake”.

USMCA 2013: Oct 9-11 in Hanoi, Vietnam
The 12th International Symposium on New Technologies for Urban Safety of Mega Cities in Asia
(USMCA 2013) will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam on October 9-11, 2013. Check out the ICUS website forlatest information.

ICUS Newsletter Apr. to Jun. 2012

Page 7

Editor’s note…
More than a year has passed
since the 2011 Great East Japan
Earthquake. As mentioned byProfessor Murosaki in the top article,
recovery is steadily progressingin the Tohoku area. Many newactivities, based on what we havelearnt from the disaster, are now
starting all over the country. Oneof the recent approaches worthyof note is the reviewing of damage
estimations. Since the magnitude of
the 2011 disaster was larger than what
experts had estimated, the Cabinet
Office or local governments are now

taking into account the impact ofearthquakes with lower probabilities,
adding their seismic models in
the assumptions. This spring, theCabinet Office has published newmaps of earthquake ground motion
estimations, predicting a gigantic
earthquake along the Nankai Troughthat runs off the west coast of Japan.
The City of Tokyo has also revised
maps of earthquake ground motion
estimations, incorporating latest
scientific and technical updates.
Other local governments also follow
this new attempt.
Another movement is the revisionof disaster prevention plans in eachregion, which is still ongoing as thereviewing process requires muchtime. But I have to say, I am a little
skeptical about the lessons fromthe Tohoku earthquake being fullyreflected. It is necessary to checkthe contents of these revisions, andgive suggestions for more effective
outcome. I expect many improvedplans to be announced soon.
The next issue of ICUS Newsletterfeatures latest damage estimations
and regional disaster prevention
plans by the Japanese local
governments, along with discussions
on future directions.
By M. Ohara

International Center for Urban Safety Engineering (ICUS)
Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo
4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
Tel: (+81-3) 5452-6472, Fax: (+81-3) 5452-6476
http://icus.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp

The International Center for Urban Safety Engineering (ICUS) is a research
center located at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo.
The purpose of ICUS is to identify, investigate, and resolve issues towards therealization of sustainable urban systems for the prosperity and safety of society
considering challenging socio-economic problems.