Abstract
This research focuses on some cities in the areas afflicted by the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster of March 11, 2011 and by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, and demonstrates that some of the post-disaster responses and challenges regarding local public transport stem from the peculiar feature of tsunamis and the nuclear accident, in order to make clear the requirements of local public transport planning taking into consideration the response in cases of wide-scale disaster.
Firstly, the responses of bus operators immediately after the disaster were studied through case studies of Hachinohe, Ofunato, and Minamisoma were studied to clarify how the roles of public transport changed with changes in the evacuees' living situations. Secondly, the restoration process of local public transport services after the emergency phase was analyzed through case studies of Ofunato and Minamisoma. Thirdly, a questionnaire survey of residents and evacuees in Minamisoma on the status of their activities and access to grocery stores was analyzed to make clear the impact of the limitation of residents' and evacuees' mobility on their quality of life in the Recovery Phase after the cascading disaster.
