Abstract
This study is to consider the procedures to map out the post-earthquake reconstruction plan of Kamaishi City in Iwate Prefecture, which is one of the cities affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami. Reconstruction plan after disaster is required to be drawn up as soon as possible to rebuild residents’ life. However, it is generally said that there is possibility that prioritizing the speed would cause insufficient confirmation of the citizen’s will. I investigated whether this kind of issue happened in Kamaishi City.
Kamaishi City provided many opportunities for the residents’ participation. There is some criticism that the plan-making steps are being delayed due to such opportunities. In fact, as of September 2012 (one and a half years after the earthquake), Kerobe was only one district in Kamaishi City, whose land-use plan was determined. But, the residents in Kerobe participated in plan-making process, and in December 2011 Kerobe district and Kamaishi City reached agreement with the land-use plan of Kerobe. That was the first agreement between a district and Kamaishi City. In Heita district too, residents participated in the process and made a rough land-use plan in December 2011 (but the plan was not agreed by Kamaiahi City until September 2012). Such communities have several common features, for example, that they have effective leadership or that the
size of damage caused by the earthquake/the tsunami was relatively small. Kerobe district selected the option
not to build a seawall and the decision contributed to downsize the reconstruction project. It is one of the
reasons to enable the district and the City to strike an agreement.
As mentioned above, under certain conditions, residents’ participation in plan-making doesn’t cause delay in completing the reconstruction plan.
