Transition of the consideration topics at conferences on the earthquake ruins preservation

Through the analysis of the Ishinomaki City Earthquake Tradition Committee materials

Abstract

The movement to preserve earthquake ruins—buildings and structures affected by earthquakes and tsunamis—for storytelling and disaster prevention is gaining momentum. However, it is unclear how municipalities will preserve them. This study analyzed the Ishinomaki committee’s materials; they held five conferences regarding the sites of two earthquake ruins and clarified the transition of consideration topics. The Ishinomaki City Earthquake Tradition Committee, the first conference on earthquake ruins in Ishinomaki, considered 45 material files. Descriptive Coding was applied, resulting in 10 inductive categories and 648 codes. Over the course of six committee meetings, the key topics shifted from evaluations of the value of earthquake ruins and citizen opinions to the methods and problems related to ruins’ maintenance and public operations.