EMERGENCY RECOVERY ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ENGINEERING STAFF AND THEIR COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL CONSTRUCTION AND CONSULTING FIRMS JUST AFTER THE 2016 KUMAMOTO EARTHQUAKE

Abstract

 A set of interview surveys and questionnaires were conducted on the infrastructure engineers in the municipalities in the district severely damaged by the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. And, the realitiesof their activities and their cooperations with local construction and consulting firms were investigated. Due to the shortage of the engineers in the municipalities and their lack of enough skill and experience, two weeks or more needed to grasp the damage of two thirds of their infrastructures. Some departmentsin the municipalities had not BCPs or earthquake disaster prevention manuals as well as related drills, could not swiftly print out the as-build drawings of their facilities, and did not ready to ask support fromoutside. These issues need to be solved in order to recover the infrastructures more rapidly with the limitedpersonnel of engineering.