The purpose of this paper is to clarify the actual state of the building evacuation in Sendai and relationship between the building evacuation and preceding plans (urban planning, air defense urban planning).
At the end of WWII, the building evacuation was implemented in many Japanese cities in order to reduce the damage of the air raid. At first, Japanese government executed it in big cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, etc. However, in 1945, as the air raids intensified, the government began carrying it out in provincial cities.
Under these circumstances, the building evacuation in Sendai was planned and carried out three times from June 1945. At the beginning, Miyagi Prefecture and Sendai City planned the building evacuation in order to protect the urban functions necessary for warfare, having the long-term outlook. However, after Sendai Air Raid, it changed into a temporary plan aimed to mitigate damage at the next air raid.
The building evacuation areas in Sendai, mainly in the city center, coincided in many points with the preceding plans (urban planning, air defense urban planning). Behind this accord, the government (Home Ministry, Air Defense Headquarter) had planned the building evacuation, relating it to urban planning. Furthermore, in Sendai, the urban planning in the city center was not carried out. It may also be related to that accord.
Thus the designation of building evacuation areas was strongly affected by preceding plans and it seems that intention of implementing urban planning by using the building evacuation worked.
