Abstract of the 8th APRU Research Symposium

Debris management and disposal in the tsunami-affected regions ofNorth-East Japan: Lessons for capacity building in other countries
John Black
Institute of Environmental Studies, University of New South Wales, Australia,
Masaki Arioka
Society of Lifecycle Infrastructure Management (SLIM, NPO), Japan

ABSTRACT:

From April 2011 onwards a Japanese NPO, SLIM, regularly visited the tsunami affected towns in
Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures documenting debris management and disposal and proposing alternative engineeringsolutions. Resilient communities of the future required leadership, cooperation amongst key stakeholders, community
engagement and capacity building. Opportunities for sharing of experience and capacity building in other countries arise
and a case study of Indonesia is presented.

1Introduction

1.1 Problem
The Tohoku Pacific earthquake and tsunami of 11 March
2011, struck a broad, rural area (Prefectures of Fukushima,Miyagi, Iwate), responsible for generating around 4% ofJapan’s GDP. The coastline of Iwate and Miyagi
prefectures is a series of small headlands, indented bays
and peninsulas. Settlements cover the flatter land by theside of the ocean. The power of the 10 – 15 m hightsunami wave was funneled onto these coastal settlements
destroying virtually everything in its path. According to aCabinet Office estimate, ¥16 trillion–¥25 trillion (3–5percent of Japan’s GDP) in assets were destroyed, of
which ¥9 trillion–¥16 trillion were non-residential
private-sector assets. The remaining ¥7 trillion–¥9 trillion
in losses were to social infrastructure including houses(125 000), ports, roads, and bridges (Nakamae, 2011: 51).

only a little over 5% of the estimated 23 million tons of
rubble from three prefectures had been disposed of up tothe end of February, 2012. SLIM members haveidentified the excessive costs and time of this debris
removal, and proposed a more efficient engineeringsolution (Figure 1), called `3.11. Green Hill` (SLIM,2012), that will make towns more resilient to any future
tsunami inundations.

Figure 1. Cross Section of Green Hill Concept
1.2 Approach
From April, 2011, onwards, members of SLIM regularly
visited the Sanriku coastline between Ishinomaki to Taroand have made a photographic record of the tsunami
debris immediately after the event, the progress in clean
up and stock piling debris, and the subsequent sorting ofmaterials, and final disposal through transport to otherprefectures willing to take the waste or the coastal
shipping of treated wood chips to neighboring towns forincineration. These procedures follow the standard
regulations issued by the national government Ministry ofEnvironment on the treatment of waste. The national
government has issued a plan for the final disposal of all
debris in the prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi by March
2014. A recent Japanese Government report stated that

Based on this experience, this paper extracts the key
messages should other countries face tsunami disasters,
and stresses the importance of institution capacity
building using Indonesia as a specific example.

2Towards Resilient Towns

2.1 Consultation
Disasters stretch the capacity of institutions to cope with
future events, and although events may not unfold inexactly the same place, collective learning is essential for
proper preparedness, and this entails two-way,symmetrical communication by government andcommunities. The methodology for such community
engagement has already been proposed by SLIM to act asAbstract of the 8th APRU Research Symposium“regional coordinators” for NPOs/NGOs and the peopleof affected communities (Figure 2). A key concept inconsultation is the value of resilience, which refers to asystem’s ability to accommodate variable and unexpectedconditions without catastrophic failure (Victoria
Transport Policy Institute, 2011).

hills as both recreation areas and as safe ground for future
events more likely with rise in sea levels.
Another potential area of capacity building would beinitiatives in the Indonesian Economic Development Planto 2025 which includes a bridge between the islands ofJava and Sumatera together with associated economic
development around the bridge approaches. This land forpotential development is tsunami prone and requires
resilient communities of the future.

3Fi
gure 2. Schema of Community Consultation
2.2 Evidence-Based Policy
Sound policy emerges from the robust testing ofalternatives and the use of evidence to reach policy
positions. There is a role for university consortia,
government and the private sector to collaborate on
evidence-based policy analysis, as has been demonstrated
in Indonesia with respect to infrastructure development(Parikesit, et al., 2008; Parikesit et al., 2012). An
independent information base and dissemination oftransparent, reliable and independent information lessens
investment risk thereby increasing potential investment
opportunities when re-building communities. Furthermore,
there are opportunities for international collaborative
research and development and for consortia formation in
the planning, project preparation and delivery phases ofinfrastructure. In the specific case of tsunami
preparedness, there are opportunities for capacity building
in skill areas where Japan has strengths (section 2.3).
2.3 Capacity Building – Sunda Straits BridgeIn Indonesia, The National Response Disaster Agency
was established soon after the Aceh tsunami, and has
been effective in Jogjakarta in more recent years.
Capacity building in the Agency is important so as to beprepared for the next tsunami event in Indonesia and to
make the coastal communities more resilient. Experiencefrom the March 11, 2011 tsunami event can be transferred
especially the treatment of debris in situ to create green

Conclusions

SLIM has documented debris management and disposal
in the tsunami-affected regions of Miyagi and Iwate
prefectures since April 2011. Alternatives to the national
government approach have been designed and subject topreliminary cost estimation, including costs of on-going
maintenance of structures. Such experience by SLIM
should prove valuable in making communities more
resilient, with potential for capacity building programs inJapan and in other countries.
One such case is Indonesia, parts of which are tsunami
prone. Discussions are well advanced between Indonesia
universities, the government and the private sector toestablish a `think tank` that will undertake evidence-based
policy analysis and give leadership with capacity building
at the three levels of government (national, provincialand local), and for the private sector. Achieving more
resilient communities will be high on the research agenda.
Another case is where SLIM approached in July 2012
the Tonga government as an example of the Pacific Island
Countries and proposed the Green Hill concept for
prevention and alleviation of disaster caused by climatechange and rise in sea levels.

4References

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