Abstract
The Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Tohoku Region was the 4th largest earthquake in human history. Due to the unprecedented severity and the fact that they had no experience to fall back upon in existing guidelines, local governments found it difficult to develop a plan for the disposal of disaster wastes. In particular, the existing plan was not able to respond to issues such as treatment of tsunami deposits and how to carry out the removal of scattered rubble left by the tsunami. There were no past cases that could answer questions on how to remove the massive amounts disaster wastes, and public roads that would be important in the transportation of disaster wastes had been destroyed by the tsunami. This makes the removal of scattered rubble in flooded areas a lot more time consuming than expected.
As for intermediate treatment of the disaster wastes, incineration plants that could deal with the heavy salt contained within the wastes had to be built. In order to recycle the disaster waste, treatment facilities were set up to handle ash and tsunami sediments. Diffusion of radioactive materials emitted from the accident that occurred at TEPCO′s Fukushima nuclear power plants was another serious problem, and areas that could accept these contaminated wastes were limited. In this report, I introduce some of my experiences as an SMW consultant in disaster cases and try to clarify some of the perspectives that can be incorporated into planning strategies.
