Study on Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Disaster Areas from the Perspective of Relationships among Actors

概要

With the frequency of earthquakes and the expansion of damage, it has become an important issue to
elucidate the impact of recovery and community efforts and residents' activities on the recovery of
disaster-stricken areas, and the roles of the entities involved in earthquake recovery have been discussed.
Looking at research trends related to earthquake recovery, it has been pointed out that in the period
immediately after the occurrence of the earthquake and during the initial stages of recovery, various
roles were contributed to the recovery by the government's disaster response, support by volunteer
groups, and initiatives by local residents. However, in geography, while the issues to be addressed by
the region differ greatly depending on the degree of damage and regional characteristics, such issues
have not been examined in discussions on the relationships among various actors in the long-term
recovery process, and it is necessary to focus on the relationships among the actors in the recovery
process and compare the recovery methods of local communities. It is necessary to compare the recovery
methods of local communities by focusing on the relationships among the entities that appeared in the
recovery process.
The purpose of this study was to elucidate the characteristics of regional reconstruction and its
formation factors by focusing on the behavior of each entity involved in earthquake reconstruction and
on the relationships among the entities. The research method was to chronologically stage the
reconstruction process in the disaster-affected areas in China and Japan, and to examine the actions of
each entity, the relationship formation process, and the role of the relationship as the key point of
reconstruction.
The study selected disaster-stricken areas in China and Japan as case studies, based on the fact that
they have faced reconstruction issues such as housing reconstruction, various actors have participated
in the reconstruction, and local residents have established community organizations and created diverse
relationships with other actors for the reconstruction. In the case of China, we selected the disasterstricken area of Luyang Town, Lushan County, Sichuan Province, which was hit by the 2013 Lushan
Earthquake, and the disaster-stricken area of Higashimuda Village, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, which
was hit by the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, as our case studies.
The reconstruction case study of Jinhua Community in Luyang Town, China, revealed that while the
government participated in the reconstruction process from the immediate aftermath of the earthquake,
the relationship between residents and the government, experts, and external supporters was not a
unidirectional relationship of supporting and receiving support, but rather, active participation in the
reconstruction activities facilitated their involvement in the reconstruction process. In addition,
although the government still played an important role in the "top-down" reconstruction led by the
government, the residents gradually regained their independence and showed a stronger level of
participation in the reconstruction than before. ...