Proceedings of CWMD International Conference 2019
September 19-21, 2019, Kumamoto University, Japan

Emergency Recovery Cooperation between Local Governments andConstruction Contractors after 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake
Yozo GOTO1, Ryuji KAKIMOTO2, Miyuki YAMAMOTO3, Seiichi SATO4, Kazutoshi
YAMAMOTO5, Sumio YANAGIHARA6 and Atsushi KANBAYASHI7
1
Kaihatsu-Toranomon Consultant Co., Ltd.
E-mail: gotoyozo@mti.biglobe.ne.jp
Key Words: 2018 Kumamoto Earthquake, local government, local construction contractor,emergency cooperation, infrastructure recoveryAbstract
In areas where severe earthquake disasters happened, quick restorations of fundamental infrastructures
are essential to protect daily lives of residents and to maintain local industrial activities. Municipalities
and local construction contractors there should cooperate to maximize their recovery power, as well as
receiving supports from national agencies, a relevant prefecture and surrounding municipalities.
A research subcommittee in the Earthquake Engineering Committee of JSCE was set up and a set ofinterview surveys was conducted on emergency restoration activities by staffs of municipalities andconstruction contractors in the district damaged by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. The aim of theinterviews was to determine the real picture of their cooperative activities and to find out how they
achieved emergency restoration.
Four municipalities in Kumamoto prefecture and relevant groups of construction contractors wereinterviewed. Minamiaso-village is located inside the great caldera of Mt Aso and on-ground access from
Kumamoto-city was destroyed and isolated for a while after the main shock. Nishihara-village is locatedon the Kumamoto-city side of Aso somma. The settlements scattered in 30 places in the village had aspirit of self-sufficiency and their community-based mutual aid for emergency was practical andeffective. Mashiki-town is in the middle position of the hill and flat urban areas, suffered shakings of
JMA seismic intensity 7 twice by the foreshock and the main shock. Town office buildings and many
residential houses were severely damaged, and launching emergency recovery met difficulty. Kashimatown is partially urbanized flat areas and one of the good performances of cooperation between
municipality staff and local construction contractors in restoration management was demonstrated.
Although the investigation is ongoing, the following were noted as important: 1) Big differencesamong the disaster response performance of the municipalities, 2) Practical preparation and drills in
preparation for a big earthquake, 3) Efficient personnel allocation separating emergency restoration
work from refugee support work, 4) Building good relationships between municipalities and local
construction contractors, 5) Preparedness for receiving support from outside and explanation to local
construction contractors about support received, 6) Clear division of support operations based on
disaster agreement from works based on maintenance contracts, 7) Improvement of disasteragreement by adding clauses regarding automatic enforcement, compensation for cost and for injuries
resulting from restoration work, 8) Utilization of voluntary disaster prevention activities in small
settlements, and 9) Development of user-oriented disaster management IT system.