狐狸视频

UTSC professor Andre Sorensen stands in front of some of the first temporary housing built in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture in the wake of Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (Photos by Andr茅 Sorensen)

Rebuilding after a tsunami

A year after devastation in Japan, progress can be seen

It has been a year since a 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, generating a tsunami that caused tremendous devastation.

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the highest wave was 38.9 metres in the Iwate Prefecture and, as of Sept. 30, 2011, there were 15,749 deaths reported and 3,962 were still missing nationwide.

How does a society that has experienced such destruction and devastation rebuild? It鈥檚 a question that Andr茅 Sorensen, an associate professor of urban geography at the 狐狸视频 Scarborough and a research associate at U of T鈥檚 Cities Centre, is exploring.

鈥淛apan has a long history of big disasters,鈥 said Sorensen, an expert on civil society, city planning and the history of urbanization in Japan. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a densely populated place that has severe earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes and fires.鈥

Sorensen is currently working on a project that looks at the reconstruction and planning processes for the areas hardest hit by the tsunami.

鈥淚 am most interested in the planning process,鈥 said Sorensen. 鈥淗ow is the process of planning changing the conception of how the settlements ought to be rebuilt? How are local people involved in decision-making?鈥

Sorensen is studying two areas: the Miyagi Prefecture, whose capital city is Sendai; and the Iwate Prefecture. Both are located in the T艒hoku region, the area most affected by the tsunami.

He has seen the aftermath of the destruction first hand and has also seen some remarkable progress in a short period of time, accomplished with civic input.

By the time Sorensen visited the region last May, all roads were passable and clean-up crews were well into demolishing the remnants of buildings. When he visited again in November, the wreckage in the destroyed areas had been cleared away.

鈥淏ut they were still dealing with huge piles of debris,鈥 said Sorensen (See photo, right). 鈥淚n Sendai, the concrete and clean fill was being made into a huge sea wall: a safety precaution for next time.鈥

An important step in the rebuilding process took place last summer, he said.

鈥淭he Japanese government surveyed the residents of the 236 settlements along the coast of T艒hoku,鈥 Sorensen said. 鈥淭hey asked residents if they wanted to rebuild onsite or relocate to a safer area.鈥

Given that since 1915 there have been nine tsunamis in Japan caused by earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.5 or greater, the majority of residents were eager to relocate. 

鈥淎bout 80 per cent of residents in most of the settlements said they wanted to move to higher ground,鈥 Sorensen said. 鈥淚n terms of building safe settlements, it doesn鈥檛 make sense to leave the residents on sea level.鈥

Creating 236 new settlement areas that are less vulnerable to disasters will be a huge challenge for planners, noted Sorensen.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about relying on civil society, volunteers and self-organization,鈥 he said.

Already thousands of citizen-led community and planning groups known as machizukuri have been involved in the rebuilding process. To facilitate efforts, the national government has brought in planners and planning researchers affiliated with the City Planning Institute of Japan and has designated a lead planner for each settlement.

Sorensen said the planners travel from places such as Osaka, Tokyo and Sendai every week to meet with local stakeholder committees, including a variety of citizen groups, business and neighbourhood associations and fishing co-ops to determine the priorities in each area.

The government has also offered to buy homes at their pre-disaster value so the residents, many of whom are elderly with limited financial resources, can afford to rebuild in new settlement areas. 

Planners estimate it could take between five-to-10 years to rebuild.

鈥淲hat probably would have happened 50 years ago is that central government ministry officials would have drawn up plans and rebuilt the communities with very little community interaction,鈥 Sorensen said. 鈥淭his time the national government is encouraging local governments to take the lead, and there have been extensive consultation processes with local stakeholders.

鈥淢ost of the money for rebuilding is coming from central government, however, as well as some major infrastructure projects, and technical guidelines, and planning advice. So a major question will be who actually ends up making key decisions, who is involved at different stages of the planning and reconstruction process and to what extent local priorities and views get incorporated into plans.鈥

Sorensen will return to Japan this spring to continue his research.
 

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