Dr Misato Uehara on learning from natural disaster experiences

Dr Misato Uehara, delegate of JLAU (Japan) and author of ‘Global platform project to share natural disaster experiences based on 10 years research in Fukushima’ sends a message of condolence and support to those affected by the recent Turkey-Syria earthquakes.

We would like to express our deepest sympathies to the victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake that occurred on February 6, 2023, and their families. President Erdogan said an estimated 2.2 million people had fled the affected areas. Search activities for the victims are over, and it is believed that the emphasis will shift to the maintenance of temporary shelters.  I would like you to deliver our experience to the people who accept the victims in the disaster area and neighboring countries.

On March 11, 2011, a massive M9.1 earthquake and tsunami also struck Japan, killing nearly 20,000 people in a short period. 
What I learned during my involvement in the 2011 recovery is that while it is reasonable to house large numbers of survivors in camps, problems have easy to occur, including harassment of vulnerable people (young women with children ).  Immediately after a disaster, anger and fear towards nature (earthquake) is very strong. Therefore, if a reconstruction plan is decided in this situation, the target will be a disaster-resistant city with gray infrastructure that will take a lot of money and time. On the other hand, evacuations utilizing vacant houses in different cities also had caused people to lose the incentive to return to the affected areas. 

Sinchi town, temporary housing was dispersed to each affected community to start long-term reconstruction. This community-based discussion on evacuation life and reconstruction greatly contributed to thinking about constructive reconstruction while healing wounds with peace of mind. This town's reconstruction housing was planned on a community-by-community basis, sites could be considered in multiple small units, so disaster-resistant housing with beautiful scenery and familiar nature could be rebuilt very quickly.

You can find the video of the story of recovery from the 10-year disaster that I mentioned above, a specific example of Shinchi Town's recovery plan, and related research results from the link below. I hope it will serve as a reference for local landscape architects and city planners.

I express my deepest sympathies to the victims and their families.

JLAU delegate Misato Uehara

https://living-with-disaster-misato-uehara-s-school.teachable.com/p/home