191

The Impact of the Great East Japan Tsunami of 2011 on Land Use
Yukio HIMIYAMA1*, Teiji WATANABE2 and Keitarou HARA3
1

Institute of Geography, Hokkaido University of Education
Hokumoncho, Asahikawa, 070-8621, Japan
2
Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University
N10, W5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
3
Faculty of Informatics, Tokyo University of Information Sciences
4-1 Onaridai, Wakaba-ku, Chiba, 265-8501 Japan*e-mail: himiyama.yukio@a.hokkyodai.ac.jp

Abstract
The gigantic earthquake of M 9.0 on March 11, 2011 and the huge tsunami that followed it inflicted enormous direct and indirect damage on the people, society, industries and land use/cover of the Tohoku District’s
Pacific coastal area. This paper is about the impact of the tsunami, called the Great East Japan Tsunami of2011, on land use in a broader sense. It reviews the current state of land use/cover in the disaster area, examines studies carried out on this topic, and discusses achievements and remaining gaps.
Key words: Future Earth, GLP, Great East Japan Earthquake, Great East Japan Tsunami,
Great East Japan Disaster, land condition, land use, SLUAS, tsunami damage,tsunami inundation map

1. Introduction
The Great East Japan Tsunami of March 11, 2011,
which followed the M 9.0 earthquake off the Pacificcoast of East Japan, caused unprecedented damage to thecoastal area of the Tohoku District facing the Pacific
Ocean. Both the frequency and magnitude of large-scale
natural disasters are increasing worldwide, and Japan,
which is known as a ‘department store of disasters,’ is not
an exception. The reasons for the increase are not entirely
natural or accidental, but are increasingly human-induced.
According to the Geospatial Information Authority ofJapan (2011), the area inundated by the Great East Japan
Tsunami along the East Japan coast, excluding Hokkaido,
included Aomori (24 km2), Iwate (58 km2), Miyagi(327 km2), Fukushima (112 km2), Ibaraki (23 km2) andChiba (17 km2) prefectures, totalling 561 km2. By landuse type, paddy fields occupied 38.4%; other agriculturalland, 5.4%; forests, 7.0%; and built-up areas, 32.9%. The
561 km2 area inundated is huge, but the actual area
affected is much larger than that if indirect damage toland use is included, such as that due to socio-economic
factors or that related to the Tokyo Electric Company
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.
Considering that disasters are increasing in frequency
and severity under the tense interactions between humans
and nature worldwide, it would be meaningful to understand the Great East Japan Disaster not only in theframework of traditional disaster studies, but also in the
Global Environmental Research
18/2014: 191-206
printed in Japan

context of the IGBP/IHDP Global Land Project (GLP)and other global change research programs such as
Future Earth. The importance of such collaboration was
stressed in the proposals of the Science Council of Japan,“Towards sustainable co-existence of humans and natureon land and in the coastal sea” (SCJ, 2008) and “Towards
establishment of a safe, sustainable society based on what
we learned from the Great East Japan Disaster” (SCJ,
2014). SLUAS (Sustainable Land Use in Asia) was
launched in 2009 with the aim of carrying out GLP-typeresearch. From the start it has put a high priority on disaster research, because disasters are becoming increasingly
important as both drivers and results of land-use/coverchanges. This means that global change research withhuman dimensions, including GLP, must look for new
types of research methods and data that are available andcan be implemented immediately.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami revealed theharsh consequences of vulnerable land use in which thedanger of extreme events was underestimated, althoughHimiyama (2011) warned about it shortly before thefateful March 11 events. The present paper reviews research dealing with the Great East Japan Disaster withspecial focus on its effect on land use. As the tsunamistricken area is so extensive and diverse and the needed
data are not always available, studies on land use face
great challenges. Nevertheless, there have been notableachievements based on the available data and the resultsof field surveys, as shown below.
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2. Provision and Preliminary Analyses of
Useful Maps and Other Geospatial
Information
2.1 Contribution of the Geospatial Information
Authority
The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan(GSI) is primarily responsible for compiling andsupplying information on land use and many other itemsin the country. The GSI’s conventional products include
printed topographic maps at 1:10,000, 1:25,000,
1:50,000 and 1:200,000 scales, and land use maps at
1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:200,000 scales, as well as
topographic and land-use maps in digital form. With all
this experience and outstanding skills, the GSI could
contribute greatly to society from the onset of thedisaster, as outlined in “Disaster Responses of the
Geospatial Information Authority of Japan: Special
Focus on Tsunami Inundation Mapping” (Une & Koarai,2014). Their paper summarizes the activities of the GSI
in response to the Great East Japan Tsunami, and some of
the results of their analyses of the relationship between
tsunami damage and geographic conditions such as landuse, elevation and land condition. The paper concludes
that: 1) damage levels are closely related to inundation
depths; 2) the area of complete destruction is locatedwithin one kilometre of the coastline; and 3) differencesin landform and land use in the coastal area influence thedamage level of areas inland. The paper includes sometsunami damage maps of the inundated area and its
vicinity on the Sendai Plain overlaid with landform,
LiDAR DEM and land-use data produced by Koarai et al.
(2011). Regrettably, the scale of the maps in the journal isapproximately 1:350,000, which is not as detailed as
desired. In other words, the study offers a good overview,
but is not detailed enough to be of use for planning or
disaster prevention purposes.
Land-use maps are considered to be one of the mostbasic tools for the study of land use. The 1:25,000
land-use map produced by the GSI should therefore playa key role in studies of the impact of the March 11
tsunami on land use. This has not been the case, however,partly because the map covers only one-quarter of thecountry and the entire Sanriku coast has simply been
omitted from the mapping scheme, and partly because,
except for a few locations, the map dates back to the late1970s. If land-use maps at 1:25,000 with detailed
land-use classification had been produced more widely
and updated regularly, and if people had had a chance tolearn how to use them, they might have contributed more
substantially to preparation for, and recovery from, thetsunami disaster.
2.2 The use of maps and other information provided
by the GSI
The most substantial work done using 1:25,000 topographic maps for studying land use in the tsunami inundated areas is perhaps the book entitled Detailed Maps of
the Impacts of the 2011 Japan Tsunami (Haraguchi &Iwamatsu, 2013). The book is a collection of some 122
A3-size, 1:25,000 topographic maps covering the entire
stretch of the tsunami-stricken coast of eastern Japan
from Aomori Prefecture in the north to Chiba Prefecturein the south, with tsunami-inundated areas carefully coloured and inundation heights marked at numerous locations. It is therefore easy to make good use of the richinformation on land use, geomorphology and other items
printed on the 1:25,000 topographic maps. The book istherefore of academic use as well as of practical significance. The tsunami inundation maps referred to in thepresent paper are all those in the above book.
In “The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of2011 and land use,” Himiyama (2013) uses tsunami
inundation maps from the above book as well as from the
1992 special version of the 1:25,000 land use map ofSendai and data from Land Use Area by Type andMunicipality in the Tsunami Inundation Zone (GSI,
2011) in his discussion of land use characteristics, regional differences and the roles of basic facilities such as
schools and roads in the tsunami inundation zone. He
reported on the effects of the tsunami on land use in East
Japan. The tsunami ruined or caused malfunctions in avast area that used to accommodate various land uses. It
affected land use and people’s lives not only in the area
directly attacked by the tsunami, but also a considerablylarger area around it, and the effects are considered to bequite long-lasting in some places. His paper concludes
that: 1) Overemphasis of socio-economy and underemphasis of safety in land-use planning and practice
resulted in an increase of land uses vulnerable to hazards;
2) Preparedness could have reduced tsunami damage
substantially; 3) Indifference to safety; ignorance ofgeographic conditions such as land use and land cover,
distribution and spatial relations, and the physical environment; and shortcomings of education, which shouldhave been more effective at improving these, have to be
overcome. The study was carried out as part of the
Sustainable Land Use in Asia (SLUAS) Project of theJapan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
Other studies using GSI topographic maps for disaster
research include “Land use in Chiba Prefecture, itschange and vulnerability to natural hazards viewed fromthe topographic maps” (Himiyama & Takamatsu, 2013).
Chiba Prefecture is located next to Tokyo, and has two
distinct features: it is a rapidly developing industrial,commercial and residential extension of Tokyo, and it is
an important agricultural base supplying vegetables,
dairy products, garden trees, etc., to urban dwellers. This
study shows how land use in Chiba Prefecture has beenchanging since ca. 1900, and what problems have beenarising in relation to land-use changes, particularly fromthe viewpoint of vulnerability to hazards.
2.3 The use of land-use trend survey reports
Each of Japan’s 47 prefectures has issued a land-use
trend survey report annually since 1980. These containvarious detailed statistical data and two maps related toland-use changes, and can offer useful information not

The Impact of the Great East Japan Tsunami of 2011 on Land Use

only for planning, but also for evaluation of planning oreven for disaster mitigation or prevention (Himiyama,1989).
The Land-use Trend Survey project was started in1980 by the National Land Agency (current Ministry ofLand, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), and eachprefecture has been asked to conduct a survey each year
since then. The result of the survey is reported in two
separate booklets, namely Report on Land Use Conversion Trends and Report on Main Facilities Development,
and two summary maps, namely Summary Map of Landuse Conversion Trends and Summary Map of Major
Facilities Development. These booklets and maps arevaluable information sources for getting a grasp of landuse changes and the various related changes. The central
government decided to retreat from this scheme, however,partly because of the declining role of the Basic Land Use
Plan, and partly because of the mounting financial
constraints facing the country. The central government
finally decided to withdraw from the survey on January
30, 2009, and left the responsibility for the survey witheach prefecture. This means that the survey is no longer
in the hands of the ministry, but in the hands of eachprefecture.
One of the items in the Land-use Trend Survey
Reports useful for the study of land use and disasters isthat of land readjustment. In December 1995, the Ministry of Construction (now the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) created an act called‘Land Readjustment and Land-use Change Concerning
Reconstruction of Urban Districts Damaged by Disasters’
to rehabilitate disaster-stricken areas. This act was created in order to rehabilitate the areas hit by the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster, and it has been
applied with some flexibility to the areas suffering fromthe Great East Japan Disaster. In the Land-use Trend
Survey Reports, the details of each project are found in
the following section on ‘land readjustment and land-use
change’ in the Report on Main Facilities Development.

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Fig. 1 Summary map of major facilities development, Miyako
City (Iwate Prefectual Government, 1996).
区: land readjustment projects
住: other residential area development projects
公: other major public facilities
水: land reclamation projects

3. Overview of Facts and Research on the
Impacts of the Great East Japan Tsunami of2011 on Land Use
3.1 Iwate Prefecture
Urban development and the area inundated by the
March 11, 2011 tsunami have been examined using theLand-use Trend Survey Report for Iwate Prefecture of
1981–2005 (Himiyama & Takase, 2014). Reclamation of
publicly-managed waters was particularly evident from1981 to 2005. Figure 1 shows a summary map of major
facilities development in Miyako City in 1995. There
were several development projects. Two land readjust区 , were underway near the sea.
ment projects, marked ○They were aimed at urban development and led by thecity government. One of them occupied 55.5 ha and wascompleted in 1993, while the other was to occupy 32.9 ha
according to the original plan, but was abandoned partway through. Both were severely damaged by the tsu-

Fig. 2 Summary map of major facilities development, Ofunato
City and Rikuzen Takata City (Iwate Pref. Gov., 1996).
区: land readjustment projects
公: other major public facilities
圃: farmland improvement projects
農工: rural industry promotion projects
水: land reclamation projects

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nami, like many other land readjustment areas for urban
development led by local governments. The symbol 水near the centre of the map indicates a public water
reclamation zone planned for an area of 35.2 ha managedby Iwate Prefecture. It was hit by a tsunami more than
12 m in height. The main users of such reclaimed land include the fisheries industry and port facilities. The situation was similar in Ofunato and Rikuzen Takata. Figure 2
shows a summary map of major facilities development in
Ofunato City and Rikuzen Takata City in 1995. The land
readjustment project in the Nanakiri-Oishi district (location A in Fig. 2) in Rikuzen Takata City was a major
scheme with a planned area of 47.4 ha led by themunicipal government. The area was devastated by atsunami with a height as great as 14 m, and the aftermath
was as shown in Fig. 3. A huge area of some 302.8 ha in
Rikuzen Takata City, including the site around location A,
has now been approved by the central government for aland readjustment project for urban development in thedisaster-stricken area. Under the new law, the central
government covers the costs, including that of elevating
the land. Figure 4 shows land elevation work to raise theground some 10 m at Rikuzen Takata (location B in Fig.
2). It is an extraordinary project for this small city, andraises a number of serious questions, as RBA Times(2014) has discussed.

3.2 Miyagi Prefecture
Miyagi Prefecture suffered by far the severest direct
damage from the tsunami. The prefectural government
started carrying information on “Project Karte for Town
Development” (Miyagi Prefectural Government, 2014)
on its official website in March 2013 in cooperation with
the Reconstruction Agency, and has frequently updated it.
As so many reconstruction projects are crowding into thecoastal area of this prefecture and the situation is rapidlychanging, the web page is regarded as a valuable sourceof up-to-date information about it. The web page fills partof the gap created by the prefecture’s withdrawal fromthe Land-use Trend Survey in 2009.
Land readjustment projects in Miyagi Prefecture
before and after the events of March 11 have been compared by using tsunami inundation maps. The summary
map of major facilities development shows the progress
made by each project for the five years prior to and five
years following the year of the survey (Miyagi Prefectural Government, 2008).
Before March 11, 2011, land readjustment projects
were concentrated in Ishinomaki City, Miyagino Ward of
Sendai City and on the coast of Tagajo City. Most of theland readjustment projects dating from before 1980 weredamaged by the tsunami. Land readjustment projects
starting after the March 11 tsunami can be found on theabove-mentioned web page. In Ishinomaki City, whichbore the heaviest casualties from the tsunami, a numberof projects are under way. Figure 5 shows part of the web
page for the town development at Shin Kadonowaki
District, Ishinomaki City. This was one of the areas
hardest hit by the March 11 tsunami, as Himiyama (2013)
discussed, but a 23.7 ha ground elevation scheme is under
way here for residential development. The burnt buildingin Fig. 6 is Kadonowaki Elementary School, which isFig. 3 Devastated land readjustment site, Nanakiri-Oishi District,
Rikuzen Takata City (Photograph: June 2011, Himiyama)

Fig. 4 Belt conveyer to bring soil for land raising, Rikuzen Takata
City (Photograph: Sept. 2014, Himiyama)

Fig. 5 Project Karte for Town Development, Shin Kadonowaki
District, Ishinomaki City (Miyagi Prefectural Government , 2014).

The Impact of the Great East Japan Tsunami of 2011 on Land Use

remembered nationwide and is likely to be preserved as amonument. This area was developed through land
readjustment, and a high risk of tsunami disasters remains. A similar situation is found in Miyagino Ward,
Sendai City. Figure 7 shows Gamo North, which includes
Sendai Port and its vicinity in the tsunami inundation
zone. Figure 8 shows less tsunami damage at area A in
Fig. 7 (at a distance) and far more damage at area B (infront). Both areas A and B were developed by land

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readjustment before the March 11th tsunami, and theformer is again undergoing land readjustment. It isregrettable that many houses are under construction or
rehabilitation in area A despite the increased risk oftsunami disaster due to the emptiness, i.e. less resistanceto tsunami, of area B without houses.
Figure 9 shows part of the web page for town
development in the Yuriage district of Natori City. This
district was almost totally wiped out by the March 11
tsunami, and empty land still prevails. The municipal
government planned to elevate the ground and rebuild thetown, but the majority of the local residents preferred tomove further inland to avoid the tsunami risk. The latest
plan is to carry out land readjustment as originallyplanned, and part of the place has been raised, as can beseen in Fig. 10. The artificial hill on the far left in thephotograph may be evidence of this.

Fig. 6 Tsunami-stricken and burnt elementary school and the
new land readjustment site in front, Kadonowaki, District,Ishinomaki City (Photograph: June 2011, Himiyama)

Fig. 9 Project Karte for Town Development, Yuriage District,Natori City (Miyagi Prefectural Government, 2014).
Fig. 7 Project Karte for Town Development, Gamo North
District, Sendai City (Miyagi Pref. Gov., 2014).

Fig. 8 Land readjustment site at Gamo North near Sendai Port
(Photograph: April 2011, Himiyama)

Fig. 10 Land readjustment site at Yuriage, Natori City
(Photograph: June 2014, Himiyama)

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Thus, although the principles and methods of land
readjustment are considered useful, and they may be used
for rehabilitating or rebuilding local communities after
the disaster, experience from the Great East Japan Disaster indicates that so many coastal land readjustmentsites suffered so badly from the tsunami that care should
be taken not to repeat the same mistake (Himiyama &Takase, 2014). Ironically, however, many former land
readjustment sites in the coastal lowlands which sufferedmuch damage in the Great East Japan Disaster are now
turning to land readjustment again.
Ishikawa (2014) offers a good example of rehabilitating a tsunami-stricken area based on careful examination of the regional characteristics of the place and thorough discussion and consensus building among the stakeholders. Prior to this successful endeavor, Ishikawa led
the initiative of the Science Council proposal entitled“Establishing a platform for town reconstruction basedon human and community power.” She also led anotherproposal entitled “Rehabilitation of the coastal forest
towards formation of safe coastal areas to nurture life.”
Figure 11 shows a “millennial hill of hope,” which is
closely related to this proposal. Thousands of volunteers
have planted trees all over the hill as part of an effort torehabilitate the coastal area of the Sendai Plain. The
wooden fences in front of the hill are wind/sand guards
for the small trees planted by the government.

The Sendai Plain is a major agricultural area dominated by paddy fields. Two-thirds of the agricultural land
inundated by the March 11 tsunami were located in
Miyagi Prefecture, and most of it was located on thisplain. Removal of the various debris and salty water
brought by the tsunami was not an easy task, but thanks
to the efforts of the many volunteers and the government,a substantial part of the inundated agricultural land,particularly paddy fields, has been revived. Figure 12
shows part of such a paddy field, located only 1 km fromthe sea.
3.3 Fukushima Prefecture
As in the case of Iwate Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture has a far higher concentration of urban development in its inland areas than in its coastal areas. The
towns near the Tokyo Electric Company Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (TFNP-1) and the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant (TFNP-2), namely
Namie, Futaba, Okuma and Tomioka, showed little urban

Fig. 11 “Millennial Hill of Hope”, Iwanuma City (Photograph:
Sept. 2014, Himiyama)

Fig. 13 Summary map of major facilities development, near
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Fukushima
Prefectural Government, 2005).

Fig. 12 Recovered paddy field 1 km from the sea, Sendai City
(Photograph: Sept. 2014, Himiyama)

区: land readjustment projects
公: other major public facilities
圃: farmland improvement projects
農工: rural industry promotion projects
水: land reclamation projects

The Impact of the Great East Japan Tsunami of 2011 on Land Use

expansion during the 1981-2012 period. Figure 13 showsa summary map of major facilities development, including the area surrounding the two nuclear power plants in
1996. The map shows few development projects of any
kind, suggesting a weak economic incentive for development in this area. Two land readjustment projects
区 are found in Tomioka Town. One of them is amarked ○land readjustment project for urban development led by
the town, with a planned area of 48.9 ha. It started in
1996, but has virtually stopped for many years. The other,with an area of only 10 ha and led by a local group,
started in 1993 and was completed in 2000. Figure 14 ispart of a 1:25,000 land-use map (GSI, 1981) showing thearea around TFNP-1, which is indicated in grey at thebottom-right. Otherwise, the area is mostly agricultural,with paddy fields (yellow) and conifer forest (green)
predominating. The whole area of the figure is designatedas an ‘exclusion zone’ by the government because of thehigh radiation levels, except for National Highway No. 6,

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which was opened to through traffic only recently, on
September 15, 2014. Because of the high radiation levels,
no pedestrians or cyclists are allowed, and even drivers ofvehicles are asked to keep their windows closed in thatarea. The power plant is located on the left side of the
highway in Fig. 15. Figure 16 shows the closed entrance
to the town centre of Futaba which remains completely
evacuated. The writing on the gate says, “Nuclear energy
is the energy of a bright future.” Figure 17 shows anabandoned paddy field near TFNP-1 which is most unlikely to be used as a paddy field again. This 35-year-old,
1:25,000 land use map, still gives an idea of the completechange from the land-use diversity that existed prior to
March 11, 2011 in this area.
Himiyama and Sasaki (2014) draw attention tocharacteristic population trends in prefectures with
nuclear power plants. As Fig. 18 shows, the population of
Fukushima Prefecture was declining during the period ofJapan’s fast economic growth (1960-1973), but started toincrease in the 1970s due to the introduction of thenuclear power plant, then started to decline in the late
1990s. This suggests that although the nuclear power
plant had a great economic effect in the prefecture, thiswas already receding sharply at the time of the accident
on March 11, 2011. This points to economic weakness

Fig. 14 1:25,000 land-use map “Iwakifutaba,” near Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (GSI, 1981)

Fig. 16 Closed entrance to the town centre of Futaba Town near
Tokyo Electric Company Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Plant, viewed from point B in Fig. 14 (Photograph: Sept. 2014, Himiyama)

Fig. 15 Tokyo Electric Company Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Plant to the left of the highway, viewed from point
A in Fig. 14 (Photograph: Sept. 2014, Himiyama)

Fig. 17 Abandoned paddy field close to Tokyo Electric Company
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, viewed frompoint C in Fig. 14 (Photograph: Sept. 2014, Himiyama)

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(a)

4.1 Physical setting of the coastal plains area of
Miyagi Prefecture
Narrow sections of alluvial plain, which are used as
agricultural and residential land, as well as small tidal
flats and sandy beaches, form around the river mouths at
the heads of inlets. The narrow inlets are also dotted withnumerous islands of various sizes, as well as many small
fishing ports.
Before the tsunami, the eastern Tohoku coast supported a rich variety of coastal vegetation. The primary
forest cover in the Tohoku District was deciduous broadleaved forest dominated by Fagus crenata, F. japonica
and Quercus crispula. The northern limit in the distribution of evergreen broad-leaved trees, however,occurred along the coast. Small scattered patches ofCastanopsis sieboldii and evergreen oaks such as
Quercus myrsinifolia and Q. acuta grew as far as northern Miyagi and southern Iwate Prefecture, while substantial stands of evergreen broad-leaved forest dominatedby Machillus thunbergii formed on islands in the rias
inlets all the way north to central Iwate Prefecture. Pine
forests developed on coastal bluffs and dunes, whileother sections of the coast supported deciduous woodlands of Zelkova serrate, Acer pictum and Tilia japonica.
The coastal vegetation of the region was extremely diverse, reflecting local influences from natural factors
such as topography, soils, sunlight and winds, as well asfrom various cultural factors (Hara & Higuchi, 2013;
Hara, 2014).

(b)

Fig. 18 (a) Population trends in Fukushima Prefecture.
(b) Population trends of Japan.

and enormous difficulties in the region which is substantially larger than the tsunami-stricken areas and areas
heavily contaminated with radioactivity.

4. Tsunami Damage in the Coastal Plains Areaof Miyagi Prefecture – Ecological Views
The Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequenttsunami struck the Pacific coast of eastern Japan on
March 11, 2011, causing severe damage over a large area.
The earthquake registered a magnitude of 9.0, and research, such as that conducted by the Joint Tohoku
Region Pacific Coast Tsunami Research Group, determined that both the inundation and run-up height of the
wave exceeded 40 m in some places. The tsunami raced
several kilometres inland across the coastal plains, and inriver valleys, it reached as far as 50 km from the sea. In
addition, the earthquake caused ground subsidence of up
to a meter in some coastal areas, which remained underwater even after the tsunami had receded. The entire
shape of the coastal topography was drastically altered.
This great disaster caused enormous damage to life,
property and infrastructure. Ecosystems in the region
were also severely disturbed. The results of onsite fieldsurveys and remote sensing data of various resolutions
have been used to analyze the damage to ecosystems
caused by the disaster.

4.2 Utilisation of remote sensing
Remotely sensed satellite data are an effective tool for
analyzing changes caused by the disaster. Data for theregion were collected periodically from before the disaster, and intensive satellite monitoring was implemented
afterwards. As a result, a large amount of data is now
available. SPOT HRG-2 data were employed in this research. These data were combined with the results ofvarious field studies and research projects carried out
after the disaster.
4.3 Overview of ecological damage from the March
11 earthquake and tsunami
The ecological damage caused by the earthquake andtsunami varied according to local topography and orientation with regard to the direction of the tsunami. In therias coastal region, damage to the small beaches, flats andplains at the heads of inlets was far greater than thatexperienced on the rocky coasts and islands. The heightof the tsunamis that struck the Sendai Plain was lower
than that along the rias coast, but the waves swept inland
unhindered over a wide area, causing immense damage.
The first wave swept over the seawalls and the water
plummeted down on the land behind. The landward sideof the seawalls was damaged, and in some areas a trench
was scoured between the seawall and the windbreak
forest behind it. The speed of the wave, as determinedfrom visual data and onsite field work, was estimatedat 10m/sec as it passed over the windbreak forests,

The Impact of the Great East Japan Tsunami of 2011 on Land Use

6-7 m/sec at a line 600-700 m from the shoreline, and3-4 m/sec about 3-4 km inland (Minoura, 2011). The
force of the oncoming and receding waves ripped rice
stumps from the paddies, and scoured the soil away. In
addition, as land subsided due to the earthquake, large
amounts of receding water were trapped behind theseawalls, forming brackish lakes that remained there forseveral weeks.
In interpreting the impact of disasters on regional
ecosystems, the season of occurrence is a vital factor thatcannot be ignored. The earthquake occurred in midMarch, when all the deciduous woody plants and herbaceous perennials in the region were still in a winterdormant state, and the seeds of herbaceous annuals had
not yet germinated. The scale of ecological disruption
may have been greater still had the disaster occurred laterin the season, when all the plants were in full leaf.

199

landward of the canal was originally a low-lying backmarsh that had been filled in and planted with pines.
Pinus thunbergii naturally prefers to sink deep roots into
dry sandy soils. In this thick marshy soil, however, theroots were unable to penetrate downwards, and wereforced to spread outwards. This reduced the stability ofthe trees and their ability to withstand the force of the
wave. The high water table in this area is attested to by
the appearance of reeds in spots where the trees weredestroyed. The parallel lines of remaining trees representslightly higher or better drained areas.
Cryptomeria japonica plantations were also damagedby the tsunami. As can be seen in Fig. 19, a clear line,
corresponding precisely with the extent of inundation,
can be distinguished between healthy trees and trees thathave wilted or changed colour.

4.4 Land-use changes
The earthquake and tsunami damaged ecosystems
from shallow inshore bottoms through the various intertidal landforms, proceeding inland to agricultural lands
and even urban areas. Below, the damage experienced insix basic types of ecosystems is discussed: tidal flats,
coastal cliffs, sandy beaches, coastal forests, marshes andirrigated paddy fields. All of these ecosystems were not
only damaged by the earthquake and tsunami, but are still
being impacted by current restoration projects.

4.4.2 Rice paddies
Before the disaster, large sections of back marsh andvalley bottom habitats on the Sendai Plain, as well as
smaller sections of flat land at the heads of inlets along
the rias coast, had been converted into irrigated rice paddies. Many of these paddies were inundated by thetsunami and, in areas where ground subsidence was an
issue, remained submerged for months afterwards. Even
after the water retreated, the drainage system was disrupted, and many paddies were completely taken over by
Echinochloa crusgalli (wild barnyard millet) (Fig. 20).

4.4.1 Coastal forests
A tsunami of equal height struck the Sendai Bay area,
but damage to pine forests varied greatly from place toplace. According to research conducted by Hirabuki et al.
(2011), many of the shorter pines seaward of the
Teizan-bori canal were bent over or broken, while taller
trees on high banks along the canal survived much better.
Landward of the canal, parts of the pine forest survived in
narrow comb-like strips running perpendicular to thecoast in direction of the wave propagation. This area

4.4.3 Land-use changes in the Sendai Plain
Zhao et al. (2013) employed land classifications of
SPOT HRG-2 satellite images to analyze landscapechanges in the Sendai Bay coastal landscape caused by
the earthquake and tsunami. Ten-meter resolution images
obtained in October 2010 and November 2011 wereclassified and the results compared. The images covereda 20 km x 20 km area, from which parts relevant to theresearch were selected and subjected to supervised classification employing the Maximum Likelihood Classifier.

Fig. 19 Damage to Crytomeria plantations along the coast of
Shizugawa Bay.
The line of inundation is clearly marked by boundaries between
healthy and wilted trees. Photographed September 15, 2011
(Hara & Higuchi, 2013).

Fig. 20 Damage to rice paddies.
An inundated paddy has been invaded by wild barnyard millet.
Photographed 14th September 2011 (Hara & Higuchi, 2013).

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Six land-use classes were identified: forest, grassland/
scrub-forest, paddy field, water, open land and urban area.
In addition, spatial data employing Arc GIS were utilized
to add three more classes, damaged forest, damaged
paddy field and damaged urban area, to the analysis. The
damaged paddy field class comprises areas where theoriginal paddies were inundated by the tsunami andsubsequently rendered unusable and taken over by weeds.

The damaged urban area class refers to spots hit by thetsunami where most of the buildings collapsed or were
washed away.
The results of the classifications are shown in Figs.
21a and 21b, with pre-disaster conditions on the left,
post-disaster in the centre, and results using ArcGIS on
the right. As can be seen, all of the former rice paddies
shifted to the damaged paddy field class. Of the 4.2 km2abFig. 21 Land-use change in the Sendai Plain (after Zhao et al., 2013).
a: Area analysedb: Landscapes before and after the tsunami

The Impact of the Great East Japan Tsunami of 2011 on Land Useof pre-disaster forest, 3.6 km2 (85%) wound up in thedamaged forest class; and of the original 4.8 km2 of urban
area, 1.4 km2 (29%) was classified as damaged urban area
(Zhao et al., 2013).
4.4.4 Recovery plans and ecological damage to ecosystems
In terms of geographic extent and intensity, the Great
Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami was a disaster ofthe worst sort. As the current international usage of thisJapanese word indicates, Japan is especially susceptible
to large tsunamis. Research indicates that the Sendai Bay
region has been struck by similar-scale tsunamis on acycle of about several hundred to 1000 years. All of thepast tsunamis must have wreaked great havoc on theregional ecosystems. Research on previous disasters has
focused on disaster mitigation and the damage to human
lives and lifestyles. This time, however, there is also astrong emphasis on the damage incurred by natural
ecosystems.
Research subsequent to the huge tsunami generated
by the Sumatra Earthquake of 2004 indicated that inmany areas the damage was mitigated by mangrove forests which grow along tropical and subtropical coasts.
With this example in mind, the Japanese government,
including the Ministry of the Environment, Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, as well as various
NGOs and academic societies, are now striving tounderstand the ecological damage caused by the 2011
earthquake and tsunami.
Ecological damage to coastal and terrestrial ecosystems can be classified into two basic types: direct physical damage to habitats and life forms and subsequentdamage caused by inundation with salt water. In the caseof the 2011 disaster, the entire regional landscape, which
can be thought of as a composite of various ecosystems,
was radically altered. Restoration of this landscape, in amanner compatible with recovery of the regional society
and lifestyles, is of paramount importance.
A basic law has been established to fund projects designed to facilitate the recovery of the devastated region.
The concerned national ministries have initiated various
programs, and recovery plans have been drawn up at theprefectural and municipal levels. As many towns andregions were totally destroyed, quick recovery has beenprioritized, and special provisions have been made tosimplify environmental impact assessments in designatedareas. While this emphasis on economic and social recovery is understandable, follow-up research has indicatedthat some of the recovery projects are exerting irreparable damage on regional ecosystems. How to reconcile
quick economic and social recovery with preservation
and restoration of ecological habitats will be a major
issue for years to come.
The eastern coast of Tohoku is situated along two
important ecotones: one between the warm-temperate
evergreen broad-leaved forest zone and the cooltemperate deciduous broad-leaved forest zone, and the201

other between marine and terrestrial ecosystems (Hara &Higuchi, 2013). Ecotones occur where different habitat
conditions meld together to form a complicated andexceptionally diverse landscape. By analyzing thelandscape at a fine enough spatial scale, it is possible toidentify and monitor heterogeneous ecotone landscapeelements that contain vital species and communities notfound in the more homogenous parts of the landscape.

5. Effects of Rivers on Tsunami Disasters– the Case of the Kitakami River
5.1 History of the Kitakami River
The Kitakami River, running from north to south witha course length of 249 km and basin area of 10,150 km2,
is the greatest river in the Tohoku region. This river hascaused numerous floods, especially in its lower reaches,
while the river once played an important role in waterway
traffic in the past. Because of frequent flood occurrences,the lowest course of the Kitakami River was artificiallychanged from the south (Old Kitakami River) to the east
(New Kitakami River). That engineering work led tomajor land-use changes in the area. Many alluvial fans,formed mainly by tributary rivers merging from the west
in the upper and middle reaches, extend to the maincourse of the Kitakami River. Rich water availability at
the foot of the fans yields good rice. This physicalcondition, together with the main triggering factor of
typhoons, has caused repeated flooding (Takahashi,1986). Until around 1600 A.D., the Kitakami Riverflowed into Ishinomaki Bay, as shown in Fig. 22-A.
Because of the frequent flooding and resultant disasters,
the river course was closed at site N shown in Fig. 22-B
and new channels (red sections in Fig. 22-B) were excavated from 1605 to 1610. The conversion of the rivercourse reduced flood occurrences in the Ishinomaki area,
but the area along the new channels experienced more
flooding. In the 1610s and 1620s (Fig. 22-C), some sections were excavated to reduce further flood occurrences
and to strengthen waterway traffic, mainly to facilitaterice transport to the city of Edo. The excavation reduced
flood occurrences, but soon more sedimentation, fromboth the upper reaches of the Kitakami River and drift
sand along the coastline of Ishinomaki Bay, affectedwaterway traffic in the area: even small sailboats foundpassage to Ishinomaki Port difficult at the end of the 19th
century (Tamura, 1980). The most recent large-scale
improvement, namely the construction of the New
Kitakami River channel with a width of over 500 m andan embankment five meters high, took place from 1911 to1934 (Fig. 22-D). The Kitakami River was separated atsite Y in Fig. 22-D to mitigate flood disasters in
Ishinomaki City, and now discharges into Oppa Bay(New Kitakami River).
Only a few studies had discussed tsunami propagation
upriver prior to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake (Abe, 1986;
Tsuji et al., 1991; Viara-Baptista et al., 2006; Tanaka
et al., 2008; Yasuda, 2010; Fritz et al., 2011). The
sections that follow discuss land-use changes, and the202

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relationship between these changes and tsunami propagation/inundation caused by the 2011 earthquake.
5.2 Land-use changes along the old and new
Kitakami River
The Ishinomaki area along the Old Kitakami River iscomposed of coastal plain (1–3 m a.s.l.) and a remnant of
the old diluvial upland (10–55 m a.s.l.). Land use in thearea started on the coastal plain.
During the era with frequent flooding, there was little
extension of residential areas in the area of today’s
Ishinomaki City. Because of the frequent floods, the lowaltitude areas of the coastal plain were used as paddy
fields (Fig. 23-A). A 1:20,000 topographic map surveyed
in 1892, in fact, shows small settlements in the lowaltitude area (less than 2 m a.s.l.) along the Old KitakamiRiver (red area in Fig. 23-A). Most other low-altitudeFig. 22 Artificial changes in the lower-reaches of the KitakamiRiver to counter frequent flooding (modified fromTohoku Regional Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 2012).

areas were wetlands at that time. The residential areas
shown in a 1913 topographic map were similar in extent,
although they had increased along the main roads. An
aerial photograph taken in 1947 (Fig. 23-A) shows thatthe residential areas had expanded but most of the area
was still used as paddy fields. The geographical setting of
the large meandering river resulted in extensive floodingin the Ishinomaki area. The Ishinomaki area near themouth of the Old Kitakami River benefitted from theriver-course changes (Fig. 22-D), because of the reduction of flood disasters.
As Fig. 23-B shows, residential areas and industrial
areas had replaced the paddy fields by 2010. This expansion had mostly occurred between the 1960s and1980s, according to aerial photographs, including thosetaken in 1967, 1975, and 1981. The area close to thecoastline has been developed as fishery and industrial
ports. The Ishinomaki Fishery Port (bottom-right cornerof Fig. 23-B) was the 5th largest port in Japan in termsof volume of landings (128,600 tons) as of 2003
(Kawahara, 2006). The Ishinomaki Industrial Port wasconstructed at the mouth of the Jo River in a lagoon(bottom-left of Fig. 23-B) in the 1960s.
In contrast to the Ishinomaki area along the Old
Kitakami River, the New Kitakami River area has
experienced smaller changes in its land use. The 1:20,000
topographic map surveyed in 1891 shows that paddy
fields occupied a large area at that time along today’s
New Kitakami River. The major land use in 1913, as

Fig. 23 Land-use changes in the Ishinomaki area. A: residential
areas in 1892, shown in red; and those in 1947 (part of anaerial photograph taken by the US Army on April 14,1947). B: expanded residential and industrial areas in2010 (part of the topographic map ‘Ishinomaki,’ issued
and updated by the Geospatial Information Authority ofJapan in 2010). The area inundated by the 2011 tsunami
is shown in blue; prepared by Naoto Iwama(http://iwama.in.coocan.jp/20110311/).

The Impact of the Great East Japan Tsunami of 2011 on Land Use

shown in the 1:50,000 topographic map issued the same
year, was similar to that in 1891. Further, the aerial
photograph taken in 1967 (Fig. 24-A) also shows similar
agricultural land use. Small towns and villages had developed in the area by 1967.
5.3 Land-use changes and tsunami disasters
In the Ishinomaki area along the Old Kitakami River,the area inundated by the 2011 tsunami reached 3-4 km
inland from the coastline, except on the diluvial upland(Fig. 24-B). The damage caused by the tsunami wasenormous because of the recent development of residential and industrial areas on the coastal plain, as describedabove. The recently developed areas had long been usedas paddy fields and there had been no residential use
before 1934, when the large-scale artificial river-coursechange was completed. This means that there were no
considerable losses of human lives, and hence no records
on previous tsunamis such as the Meiji-Sanriku tsunamithat occurred on March 3, 1896, and the Showa-Sanriku

Fig. 24 Aerial photographs of the New Kitakami River running
into Oppa Bay. A: taken on October 9, 1967, B: taken on
March 19, 2011. Both were taken by the Geospatial
Information Authority of Japan. The coverage is approximately 5 km x 6 km. O: Okawa Elementary School, P:
paddy fields, S: sandy beach.

203

tsunami on June 15, 1933 (Mizutani, 2012). The lack ofrecords on previous tsunamis, unfortunately, resulted ingreat damage in the area from the 2011 tsumani.
The area inundated along the New Kitakami River(Fig. 24-B) was even larger than that along the Old
Kitakami River (Ishinomaki area), reaching more than
15 km from the river mouth in Oppa Bay (Koarai et al.,2011), and the tsunami itself reached 48.88 km from theriver mouth (Adityawan et al., 2012a). The main reasonsfor such a large extent of inundation inland are the area’s
geomorphological setting tied with landform development and artificial river channel excavation (Hirakawa &Komatsu, 2014). The inlets of the ria coast in the Tohoku
region, in general, have such small catchment basins thatlittle sedimentation has occurred. The New KitakamiRiver, the widest river in the region, on the other hand,
has a relatively large amount of sediment, forming a vast
extent of low plains, stretching from west to east. The
altitudes of the valley floor along the New KitakamiRiver originating from tidal flats and consisting of
successional wetlands are as low as 0-1 m a.s.l. as far as
approximately 15 km upstream from the river mouth(Hirakawa & Komatsu, 2014).
The tsunami destroyed the buildings of the Okawa
Elementary School (O in Fig. 24), resulting in the fatalities of 74 schoolchildren and ten teachers. The schoolbuilding was located about 5 km upstream from the rivermouth (Fig. 25), while the tsunami proceeded more than
15 km inland along the New Kitakami River. The elementary school was located at an altitude of approximately 2 m. There existed a local tsunami hazard map.
The predicted height of the tsunami waves was not solarge, and that might have affected the evacuation of theschoolchildren and teachers. Better understanding of thegeomorphological settings and artificial changes in theriver channel by the teachers could have prompted anevacuation.
The river-mouth area of the New Kitakami River has
been designated as a quasi-national park. The sandy
beach near the river mouth is shown in an aerial photograph taken in 1967 (S in Fig. 24-A). The sandy beachhas been used for sea bathing. It completely disappeared
after the 2011 earthquake: river mouths are more vulnerable to tsunami threats than seashores (Tanaka et al., 2013).
Paddy fields and recently built houses were also
submerged (P in Fig. 24).

Fig. 25 The destroyed Okawa Elementary School building (Site
O in Fig. 24). The flat plain, the right-bank of the New
Kitakami River, had many residential houses and a post
office, which were all washed away by the 2011 tsunami(photograph: May 30, 2012, Watanabe).

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Although these two river-mouth areas (Old KitakamiRiver and New Kitakami River) were affected by the2011 tsunami, the damage in each area resulted fromdifferent factors. In the Old Kitakami River area
(Ishinomaki City), residential and industrial areas have
expanded towards the coast because of reduced flooding
as the result of the artificial river-course change. The
expanded development in low-altitude areas as a result offlood control, however, led to extensive damage from theon-land tsunami in 2011. In the New Kitakami River area,
flood control through the gigantic artificial river-course
construction and natural geomorphological settings, including small river gradient, led to extensive upriver
propagation of the tsunami. A sand pit near the rivermouth appeared to have dissipated the tsunami wave
energy (Adityawan et al., 2012a). Even such a protective
geomorphological buffer, however, was swept away
because of the tsunami’s enormous power. After destruction of the buffer, the tsunami propagated upriver becauseof the low river gradient.
Adityawan et al. (2012b) concluded that on-landtsunami propagation behaves differently from tsunami
propagation in rivers. By simulating tsunami propagation
in a river, Viana-Baptista et al. (2006) showed thattsunami propagation in rivers caused severe flooding in
upstream areas far from the shoreline at Tagus estuary,
Lisbon. Tsunamis in general propagate further in rivers,
endangering upstream areas far from the coastline(Adityawan et al., 2012a). As mentioned earlier, the New
Kitakami River underwent artificial river channel excavation to control flooding, but this conflicted withtsunami prevention in the river (Adityawan et al., 2012a).
Moreover, the distance of tsunami propagation differs
greatly due to various other factors. Further studies of thefactors influencing tsunami propagation processes inrivers are necessary for promoting sustainable land use
along the lower reaches of tsunami-prone rivers.

6. Conclusions
The present paper reviewed research on the impact of
the Great East Japan Tsunami of March 11 on land
use/cover and the lessons learned, elucidated the present
state and hot issues in the disaster areas, and proposed
priority subjects to be tackled towards sustainable land
use in the region. One of the lessons learned from theGreat East Japan Disaster is that although some tsunami
damage was unavoidable, it could have been reduced
substantially if we had been better prepared. It has been
revealed that issues include insufficient attention tosafety, ignorance of geographical conditions such as land
use/cover distributions or spatial interrelationships, andinsufficient education at schools and of local officials toenhance safety awareness and skills.
There are valuable geospatial information sourcesthat can be used in land use/cover and disaster researchand education, such as the Land-use Trend Survey Reports,
1:25,000-scale land-use maps, 1:50,000 & 1:50,000
topographic maps. However, those in paper form areeither being terminated or digitized, which seldom results
in a proper replacement of their paper-printed predecessors.
A balanced approach to regional recovery should include restoration and protection of biodiversity and thevital services provided by coastal ecosystems. Futuredisaster prevention and mitigation systems should incorporate continuous monitoring of ecosystems, employing
both traditional on-site research and remote-sensing data,
as well as new models for sustainable land use in coastal
regions.
Although there have been numerous journalistic reports on the Great East Japan Disaster, there have beenfewer academic articles on land use, and of those, only a
few have been written in English. It is hoped that thepresent paper will help improve the situation and givesome insight to studies towards sustainable land use.
The human population of the world is still increasing
rapidly, and world economic activity is expanding, so thedemand for well-conditioned land is rising, and negotiation among different types of land use under increasing
constraints is becoming increasingly difficult.

Acknowledgement
This study has been carried out partly within SLUAS(Sustainable Land Use for Asia, JSPS Science Fund
Basic Research (S) No.21222003) and partly supported
by JSPS Science Fund Basic Research (C) No.24510332.
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Yukio HIMIYAMAYukio HIMIYAMA is a professor of Geography at
the Institute of Geography, Asahikawa Campus,
Hokkaido University of Education. He received
his Ph.D. from King’s College London in 1980.
He is Vice President of International Geographical Union and President of Human Geoscience
Section, Japan Geoscience Union. His recent
academic interest includes land use/cover change, global environmental
change, sustainability, resilience and environmental map education.

Teiji WATANABE
Teiji WATANABE is a professor of the Faculty ofEnvironmental Earth Science and the Graduate
School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido
University. Having a background in alpine geomorphology, he specializes in mountain geoecology, with interests in interaction of humangeo-ecosystems in high mountain areas and natural resource managementin protected areas. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in the Himalayas,
the Karakorums, the Alps, the Pamirs, and Japanese mountains.

Keitarou HARA
Keitarou HARA is a professor in the Department
of Informatics, Tokyo University of Information
Sciences. He received his Dr. Sc. degree in plant
ecology from Tohoku University in 1986. Hisinterests center on applications of remote sensing
and GIS to the study of vegetation and landscapesciences, and he has served as editor-in-chief ofthe IALE (International Association for Landscape Ecology) Japan Chapter(2000-2003) and president of the Japan Association for Landscape Ecology(2012-2015). He started surveying the recovery process of coastal vegetation using remote sensing after the Great East Japan Earthquake andTsunami of 2011.

(Received 18 October 2014, Accepted 5 December 2014)