Migration is dynamic and varies greatly across the globe due to myriad factors, including demography, economy, geography, and environment. As people move, a number of challenges exist that can leave human rights and human dignity as an afterthought to the migration process. This special issue provides a legal and policy framework for supporting “migration with dignity,” providing examples of how to apply this framework across a number of contexts, including climate change, the migration cycle, and pandemics.

COVID-19 has drastically changed mobility and migration in key spheres, such as transportation, travel, construction, and hospitality. Our research for this special issue was conducted between 2020 and 2021; therefore, we had the opportunity to witness a once-in-a-century global pandemic with direct impacts on migration inflows and outflows. Consequently, we have included pandemics as a key theme for consideration in this issue, believing that the research agenda should be informed by the assessment of impacts in both the atoll countries and in the United States – the most common “destination” of Pacific Islanders. This additional research revealed the vulnerabilities of migrants in the destination countries and in their home countries, vulnerabilities that would not otherwise have been apparent.

Our research was also directly impacted by the pandemic. We intended to conduct field research in countries such as the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and the Republic of Maldives, with the RMI and FSM serving as countries of “origin” for migration to the United States. In the Maldives, there is a large domestic migration from the atolls to the newly constructed man-made islands. We experienced research and travel limitations due to COVID-19, where many countries have adopted strict isolation policies to prevent the spread of disease. Therefore, we had to conduct our surveys remotely using the Internet or by asking collaborators living in the area to conduct surveys on our behalf.

Our special issue also touches on the issue of the intergenerationality of immigrants in terms of how migrants adapt or assimilate into the receiving society, and how the mass media plays a role in the perceptions of migrants and the perceived problems associated with immigration by host countries. Many opportunities remain for further exploration and research, including how migration has changed in the post-pandemic world. We intend to pursue these opportunities in 2022 and beyond.

This special issue presents the findings of an international collaborative research project conducted between 2019 and 2021. This study is a follow-up of a previous study conducted between 2016 and 2019. In both studies, we examined the livelihoods of future climate migrants, who may relocate from Pacific atoll countries to developed countries. The Maldives was also included in this study, as it developed a unique strategy to cope with anticipated sea-level rise. They have developed a new city on reclaimed land and elevated it, intending to move the majority of its population there. In our first research project, we learned of the challenges faced by Pacific Islanders when transitioning to their new lives in a foreign country. This included inter alia unemployment or lack of opportunities for upward mobility, limited access to healthcare and legal services, and discrimination. We thus developed a formal policy and legal framework for the concept of “Migration with Dignity,” built upon the phrase first coined by then-Kiribati President Anote Tong. Our framework represents the opportunity for migrants to live a life equal to or better than the one they left behind. We then applied our concept of the Migration with Dignity framework to the challenges faced by climate migrants in the real world. The global outbreak of COVID-19 occurred during the implementation of our new research project. This made field research almost impossible in both atoll and developed countries and led us to modify our survey methods to include tele-interviews and remote surveys through the Internet. The pandemic also revealed the exacerbated vulnerabilities of the people who migrated to developed countries, such as discrimination, poor or no translation of medical documents, and challenging healthcare processes. We decided to address these issues within the framework of our research. We leave it to the readers of this special issue to decide how far we were able to maintain the quality of our research despite the difficulties we faced due to the sudden pandemic. As we felt at the end of our last collaboration, we now know what we need to do in our next endeavor.

This article presents a legal and policy framework for Migration with Dignity. As the scale of internal and international migration continues to grow, rhetoric around migration has been increasingly politicized and intended to fuel feelings of xenophobia. The way migration is framed has a substantial impact on both how migrants are able to cope and manage their untenable situation, and how adaptive policy options are developed for facilitating the migration and transition of individuals. In recent years, a noticeable trend has emerged with courts employing human dignity arguments in cases involving fundamental human rights, including rights to equal protection. Dignity is built upon the premise that every human being has intrinsic and equal worth and value. Therefore, the Migration with Dignity framework offers an opportunity to focus on the challenges experienced by individuals and provide policy and legal options to governments, policy makers, and NGOs for how to better improve the transition of migrants into new settings and foster opportunities for improved livelihoods.

This article introduces the idea of human dignity as a legal concept and demonstrates how that idea can be used to protect people who migrate. Migration involves moving from one place of residence to another, within a country or across an international border, temporarily, or permanently, for myriad reasons. Dignity is an inherent human quality that embodies the equal worth of every person, everywhere. Dignity matters to migrants because it is inherent in the human person and inalienable; it therefore travels with migrants wherever they go, it does not depend on government grace and it cannot be abridged by governmental or private action. Because it reflects equal worth, it demands that migrants are treated by public and private actors as having the same inherent worth and value as every other person, whether they are citizens or not. This means that every person has the same right as any other person to have their dignity respected, in terms of quality of life, access to services, security, and every other way that matters. While dignity rights are reflected in most of the world’s constitutions and are embedded in human rights law at the international, regional, national, and subnational levels, they must be implemented and applied for the benefit of people who migrate within countries and across borders.

The scale of migration is increasing, and while great uncertainty exists in identifying exact numbers, the estimated number of international migrants is already surpassing 2050 projections in the order of 2.6%, or 230 million. As people migrate, they face a number of challenges including exposure to disease and other health threats, violence and assualt, trafficking and unlawful detention. However, of the protections available to migrants, the implementation and realization of these protections and how they impact the individual experiences of migrants and their loss of human rights and dignity rights across the migration cycle, are lacking. In acknowledgement of this, McClain et al. developed a legal and policy framework for Migration with Dignity, which identified six fundamental elements central to the migration experience that can supplement and support the implementation of migrant protections. The framework was built upon the foundational policy of former President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, who understood the climate change was impacting the lives and livelihoods of his people and that in the face of diminishing land area and opportunities, that the Kiribati should have the opportunity to determine when and how they migrate, and that in doing so that they are able to live a life that is equal to or better than the one they left behind. The Migration with Dignity framework offers an opportunity to provide policy and legal options to governments, policy makers, and NGO’s for how to improve to consider the dignity of migrants while they move, and improve the transition of migrants into new settings, while also fostering opportunities for improved livelihoods. However, in order to provide these opportunities, the framework would benefit from additional application of the fundamental elements across different contexts and in different settings. With this in mind, this article provides the necessary methodology for considering the social and legal dimensions of the framework, it also provides examples for how to apply the framework across multiple contexts.

There are four atoll states in the world: The Republic of Kiribati, the Maldives, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and Tuvalu. These countries are comprised entirely of low-lying land approximately 2 m above sea level. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recognized that atoll countries are highly vulnerable to rising sea levels due to climate change. This study aimed to clarify the relative advantages and disadvantages of possible alternatives compared to the present livelihoods of the Marshallese in their home country. We also attempted to identify the best plausible option, using few sets of possible value judgements over the evaluation criteria. The following four alternatives were examined in this study: (i) migration to the developed world, (ii) migration to other island states, (iii) land reclamation and raising, and (iv) development of floating platforms. To evaluate the performance of the four alternatives, we selected 16 criteria representing the societal conditions that would result from each alternative. The performance of each alternative per criterion was rated from 1 to 5 by a literature survey, interviews with researchers who worked on the livelihood of Marshallese immigrants in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Hawaii, and Oregon, and interviews with people knowledgeable about the behavior of the Marshallese both in their home country and in the United States as immigrants. The “migration to the developed world” alternative proved the best choice, followed by “developing floating platforms,” “land reclamation and raising,” and “migration to other island states.” We also found that “migration to the developed world” offered the most change to immigrants, while the alternative of “land reclamation and raising” resulted in the smallest change. The magnitude of anticipated change should be considered. We employed the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to experimentally evaluate four alternatives in an integrated manner and about three cases were “all the criteria are equally important,” “social environment is more important,” and “personal environment is more important.” With AHP, the “migration to the developed world” alternative yielded the highest point for all three cases examined. Notably, climate migrants do not suddenly emerge, because climate change is a slow-onset process. The Marshallese should make wise use of the available lead time to prepare for migration in the future.

Of the four atoll countries in the world, the Maldives has the lowest average elevation. Therefore, it is likely to be the first country to lose its land when the sea level rises due to climate change. As a countermeasure to sea level rise, the government of the Maldives is constructing an artificial island called Hulhumalé by raising an atoll adjacent to the capital city of Malé. Other atoll countries may employ the same method to adapt to the anticipated sea level rise. There is a concern that people who are forced to relocate to the artificial island will be affected in various ways. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify measures to reduce the potential impacts of migration to artificial islands. This study aimed to identify factors that will work effectively to satisfy migrants from outside the Malé region to Hulhumalé. At this stage, sea level rise is not a motivating factor for migration to Hulhumalé. For the time being, enhancing high-income employment and high-level education in Hulhumalé, which are the main motivations for migration, will help sustain voluntary migration. Over the past two decades, rapid economic growth has changed the desire of Maldivians. Hulhumalé is attracting people with its new urban environment and employment opportunities. A small-scale questionnaire survey on the satisfaction level of post-migration life was conducted among the residents of Hulhumalé and the results showed that those who changed their jobs before and after migration were less satisfied with their migration than those who did not. In Hulhumalé, smart cities are being developed and new types of employment are being created. In order to facilitate the smooth migration of residents from remote islands, policies that focus on occupational changes before and after migration are needed, such as public job placement programs that enable migrants to find the same jobs that they had before migration, and job training programs that prepare them for career changes and enable them to adapt smoothly to new jobs. At present, mental health issues among migrants are not a major problem. Strengthening people-to-people networks through the use of information technology (IT) will contribute to smooth migration and resettlement.

Marshallese mobility long precedes the deep disruptions of nuclear history, contemporary climate-induced migration debates, and the ongoing socio-economic, legal, and geopolitical discourses about the freely associated relationship between the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the United States (U.S.). Nonetheless, understanding the well-being of the Marshallese people today requires an acknowledgment of the multiple factors that have drawn at least one-third of the RMI’s citizens to live in the U.S. over the last half century, as well as a firm grasp of how they live, work, and advocate for their communities in this diaspora. This article makes the argument that migration with dignity will always require attention to the ongoingness of history, migration, and lives. Beyond this, we argue that ongoingness is more than a vague, conceptual notion we might use to describe – or even dismiss – complex histories and present-day uncertainty about addressing migration-related issues. Rather, we present a series of qualitative studies, conducted over more than five years, to indicate how the ongoingness of migration can be made tangible for studying, understanding, and potentially expanding migration – and life – with dignity. This paper discusses three aspects of ongoingness that impact the well-being of the Marshallese who live in the U.S.: their ongoing relationship with their home environment, their ongoing relationship with the law, and their ongoing relationship with notions and practices of responsibility and repair.

Climate-induced emigration from the Pacific Island countries to the United States is expected to increase as the island nations experience sea level rise. Since 1986, approximately 30,000 nationals from the Marshall Islands have immigrated to the United States. Hawaii has been a common destination for Marshallese immigrants over the past 30 years. However, Marshallese immigrants have not been fully acculturated to the United States. This has resulted in problems such as lower attendance rates at schools and work. In this study, we compared Marshallese immigrants’ characteristics with those of second-generation Japanese immigrants to the United States from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, on the basis of the latter’s documented adaptation to American society and establishment of a positive social status. We identified differences between Marshallese immigrants to Hawaii (from the late 1980s to the present) and Japanese immigrants to Hawaii (from the 1880s to the 1920s). This comparision is made from the viewpoint of second-generation immigrants’ self identification while considering first-generation immigrants parenting of their children inculcating national and cultural identity. A comparison was made to identify the similarity and dissimilarity between the two second-generation groups, in order to identify the factors that made their acculturation to American society either a success or failure. It was found that the manner in which first-generation immigrants regard the cultural identity of the second generation greatly influences the acculturation of second-generation immigrants.

The Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 induced massive temporary relocation of the people in the Maldives, from the small atolls they lived in to nearby larger atolls. Once they were permitted to return home, some evacuees proved reluctant to leave temporary housing due to a better livelihood. On the occasion of the accident at the nuclear power plant caused by the tsunami brought by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, all the residents of Hirono Town in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, were forced to evacuate over a long period. Many of them lived in temporary housing built in Iwaki City in the same prefecture. Some of the evacuees, as was the case in the Maldives, showed reluctance to return home, on the ground that livelihood in the temporary housing was both convenient and enjoyable. It was a surprise for national and local governments because they assumed that those in temporary housing were uncomfortable and that the evacuees were keen to leave to return home. Differences in information existed between the evacuees and the government. This study aims to determine why such a disparity emerged and was left unrevealed. It also tries to reveal what the observed differences led to after the evacuees returned home. Furthermore, it examines the impact of mass media on the minds of the general public. It finds that the evacuees’ minds changed over time as they initially found themselves away from home, living in temporary housing and unhappy. Mass media conveyed unupdated and confusing messages to society, as if evacuees were actually unhappy. Society thus tended to regard the displaced as unhappy forever, while the evacuees found their livelihood in temporary housing comfortable or even enjoyable to the extent that some decided not to return home by becoming residents of Iwaki City. Society should be aware that evacuees’ idea and behavior may drastically change over time – even beyond their imagination.

This research uses a “migration with dignity” framework to look at the twin impacts of COVID-19 and discrimination on the Marshallese community in Springdale, Arkansas. Specifically, it focuses on the ways in which rights to non-discrimination, to basic quality of life, and to access services, especially healthcare, have not been adequately upheld. As the research was conducted in partnership with the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese (ACOM), the paper also aims to examine some of the community-based work that has been addressing these issues. The research, based on interviews and desk research, found that almost all Marshallese community members interviewed expressed that they had not felt safe from COVID-19 and it had significantly impacted their lives. Many expressed that existing issues with limited access to healthcare or perceived discrimination in the healthcare system had been exacerbated by COVID-19. In particular, factors such as lack of translation of unemployment and COVID-19 documents into the Marshallese language, lack of paid sick leave, and multigenerational housing, all exacerbated the effects of the pandemic on Marshallese community members. General racial or cultural discrimination was an issue expressed by about half of the respondents, who shared varying stories of discrimination occurring in workplace and school settings, but almost none expressed fear over personal safety in Springdale. Community organizations and structures, specifically health clinics, community vaccine drives, and a community food pantry, were all mentioned as ways that the Marshallese community upheld rights to non-discrimination, basic quality of life, and right to access services.

The Pacific Islander population in the United States continues to grow due to outmigration and a unique immigration arrangement. Under the Compacts of Free Association (COFA), citizens from three Remote Oceania countries can travel to the United States to live and work without restriction. Given the special status of COFA migrants, there is a growing interest among policymakers and researchers to better understand this population, which has often been overlooked. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has recently spotlighted this community due to their exceedingly high rates of infection, hospitalization, and morbidity. This study examines how migration is experienced during a pandemic via a case study of first-generation Micronesians living in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, one of the largest Micronesian communities in the United States. Interviews reveal how social determinants of health – such as economic stability, non-discrimination and equal treatment, access to healthcare, employment, and housing – may contribute to unequal health outcomes between Pacific Islander immigrants and other racial and ethnic populations. These determinants also contribute to human dignity. Using the emergent Migration with Dignity framework, this study assesses how the pandemic has challenged the six dimensions of dignity and disrupted the migration experience, including the push-pull factors for deciding to emigrate to and stay in the United States. Finally, the study assesses resources available for COFA citizens and avenues for improved support.

Several small island developing states (SIDS) in the Pacific managed to avoid the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing measures to ensure national isolation. Primarily due to being ordered to leave by their respective organizations, e.g., overseas development administration (ODA) in the developed world, many highly skilled migrant workers left these countries. This sudden exodus of highly skilled foreigners created a number of problems in these countries; for example, schools suffered from teacher staffing shortages and hospitals had reduced capacity to offer medical services due to the paucity of nurses and doctors. This study aims to examine the situations in the Federated State of Micronesia (FSM), Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), where many foreign workers have left their duty stations to return home under COVID-19, to elicit lessons learned and possible ways and means to alleviate the observed problems. To this end, literature surveys and interviews were conducted with informants. Results indicated that developing and maintaining a remote work environment is a promising method to fill the gaps caused by the sudden absence of foreign workers in management posts, even under non-emergency situation. This is because in the case that highly skilled migrant workers are forced to vacate their duty stations suddenly, immediately hiring replacements is often not possible. Promoting distance education also proved effective for COVID-19-free nations such as the FSM, Palau, and the RMI, not only during emergencies, but also during normal times. Similarly, the daily use of telemedicine is likely to be effective in coping with emergencies, as shown in the case of FSM’s Pohnpei State Hospital. We found both distance education and telemedicine to be effective measures to address the sudden departure of highly skilled migrant workers in the fields of education and medical services. Moreover, other forms of remote work should prove useful in other sectors such as industry and administration. These systems should be progressively developed during non-emergency times and integrated into the daily operations of relevant sectors.

Japan is a country that experiences a considerable number of natural disasters. It sees frequent seismic and volcanic activity because it is located on the boundaries of multiple plates. In addition, the temperate monsoon climate brings heavy rains and therefore floods and landslides. Since ancient times, the Japanese have repeatedly recovered from various natural disasters. That history has much to teach those living alive now.

In Japan, observation systems for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have been set up, and research based on the records of these instruments is actively being done. However, some earthquakes and eruptions repeat at intervals of hundreds of years, making the investigation of historical and archaeological materials essential if the true circumstances of such natural events and damage they caused are to be learned. A part of the historical disaster research currently being conducted in Japan is presented in this mini special issue.

This mini special issue contains four papers. Ebara’s paper, taking up the ways in which artificial development has transformed the topography in the last 500 years, considers the relationship between the original topography and the damage caused by typhoons. Kaneko’s contribution considers the damage sustained by one village that was hit by the tsunami that resulted from the great earthquake in the early 18th century. Kaneko surveys archaeological sites and tombstones that reveal that many of the victims were women and children. Sugimori et al. elucidate the exact time of the great earthquake in the 19th century by using historical materials written in Japanese, English, and Russian. Along with the importance of comparing and contrasting various literatures, the work teaches us that disasters have no borders. Murata proposes a method of utilizing archaeological excavations in earthquake research. It also presents a case in which the condition of the ground, which cannot be understood by surface observation alone, is estimated from traces of a disaster.

From these papers, readers can learn the potential of historical and archaeological materials in disaster research.

Japan is a mountainous country, and its mountains, formed as the result of tectonic uplift and volcanic activity, sit very close to the coastline. Short, steep rivers running down those mountains formed medium-sized alluvial plains in coastal areas. While the great majority of the coastal plains of Japan are alluvial, formed by the sedimentation of deposits carried by rivers, not all were formed solely by natural sedimentation. By artificially altering coastal tidelands and shallow inland lakes and marshes, the people of the Japanese archipelago gradually expanded their area for habitation and farming. In this paper, I take the Chuen Plain in the central part of the Japanese archipelago as an example to clarify how bodies of water were turned into land from the 16th century on, and I show what damage was done in this area of development by the storm surge caused by a huge typhoon at the end of the 17th century. We should consider that while turning bodies of water into land created more space for living and farming, it also increased the risk of natural disasters in daily life.

The Genroku earthquake and tsunami were the largest disaster in Japan during the Edo period. The earthquake occurred late at night on November 23, 1703, and widespread house collapses and fires in cities in Kanto region, including Edo (the old name of Tokyo) and Odawara. Following this, a huge tsunami hit the Pacific coast, which killed tens of thousands of people who lived there. This paper discusses a part of the actual situation of the tsunami disaster based on the tomb erected for the victims, as well as of the Buddhist memorial services held, such as kaimyo (posthumous Buddhist names), written on the tomb stones, ihai (Buddhist spirit tables), and kuyo-tou (memorial pagodas).

The December 23, 1854 Tokai earthquake (M∼8), followed by Nankai earthquake by ∼30 hours, occurred along the Nankai Trough and caused widespread damage due to ground shaking and tsunamis. At the time of the earthquake, a Russian frigate, Diana, was anchored in Shimoda Bay and experienced the earthquake and tsunami. The frigate was damaged and eventually wrecked. Four Japanese historical documents reported that strong shaking occurred in Shimoda after 9 a.m. and before 10 a.m. in local time, reflecting the two-hour unit of the timekeeping system used in Japan at that time. The information from the frigate, reported in contemporary newspapers in English, all mentioned that an earthquake first shook the ship severely, and that they then observed the tsunami entering the bay around 10:00 in local time. The time of the earthquake, however, was reported as 9:15 in Shanghai and American newspapers (The North-China Herald, The Daily Union), and as 9:45 in the British press (The Times, The Illustrated London News). We found that the original logbook of the Diana, archived at the Russian State Archives of the Navy, Saint Petersburg, recorded that the earthquake occurred “at 3/4 of the 10th hour,” indicating 9:45. The former newspapers seemed to have been based on the information provided by the men of the American frigate Powhatan, which also arrived at Shimoda after the earthquake, but the time might have been erroneously translated into “three-quarters to ten.” More precisely, the above time expression should be interpreted as being between 9:45 and 9:59 in local time (138±b°57’E), corresponding to between 0:29 and 0:43 Greenwich Mean Time.

Evidence of past earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods has been discovered during archaeological excavations. The Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (hereafter referred to as “NABUNKEN”) has been constructing and releasing the “Historical Disaster Evidence Database” constructed upon Geographic Information System (GIS; hereafter referred to as “HDE-GISdb”) by compiling disaster evidence information from excavation sites throughout Japan. Through this initiative, we aim to build an information infrastructure that will facilitate not only the elucidation of disaster occurrence mechanisms and local disaster histories but also disaster prevention and mitigation research. This paper discusses the effectiveness of HDE-GISdb using a case study of the Palace and Capital of Nagaoka sites in Kyoto Prefecture to visualize potential hazards, which cannot be read from topography, by disaster evidence recorded in Holocene and Pleistocene deposits.

Natural disasters are common worldwide, especially in tropical countries. Floods are one such frequent disaster that occur in the tropical country of Indonesia. Floods cause disasters in many vulnerable societies living in the area. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct risk assessments for flood mitigation. The objective of this research is to support decision-making for flood risk assessment by selecting priority sub-systems. The research was conducted in Surabaya, East Java, and Indonesia. The Surabaya drainage system is divided into five districts consisting of several sub-systems facing inundation problems. This causes challenges for the government in selecting which sub-systems should be prioritized to overcome these problems. Consequently, a rank priority for sub-systems is required. This research validated whether the Analytics Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was applicable and appropriate to weight priority factors to select the priority drainage system. It weighs historical flood data by considering several criteria related to floods, consisting of flood hazards, social economics, and the environment. Flood hazard is defined as the severity level of flooding indicated by three indicators: inundation area, inundation depth, and inundation duration. Social-economics is a criterion covering population density and land use types consisting of residential areas, commercial and services areas, public facilities, industrial areas, port areas, and mix used development support areas. Environment is a criteria indicated by green open space, flood-prone areas, watershed catchment areas, and storage areas. The weighting result convinced the decision makers as to the related parameters which should be considered in order to support appropriate and effective flood mitigation. Further, due to budget constraints, the results of the research can be used to assist the municipal government in selecting which drainage system should be prioritized for management. The AHP result reveals that the priority drainage systems are Wonorejo sub system (Jambangan district), Greges sub system (Genteng district), Kedurus sub system (Wiyung district), Kalibokor sub system (Gubeng district), and Tambak Dono sub system (Tandes district). The result was confirmed to several respondents from Department of Public Works, Highways, and Drainage Management involved with the drainage system in Surabaya. It is indicates that the AHP results mostly are applicable to the existing condition.

This study aimed to analyze the role of Local Disaster Relief Agencies (LDRA) in influencing the local government of Pandeglang Regency to amend previous regional regulations supporting disaster risk reduction. This research was conducted on the coast of the Sunda Strait, Pandeglang Regency, Banten Province, Indonesia, which was the site of the 2018 tsunami. A qualitative approach including in-depth interviews, direct observation on the field, and documentation based on the values, beliefs, and knowledge of thirteen informants was adopted to support tsunami risk studies by developing local regulations. The results revealed that 1) the utilization of the Sunda Strait coast is not prioritized in disaster risk reduction; 2) implementing the prescribed role as a facilitator between the government and the community and the enacted role based on the reality on the field by conducting a disaster risk study in Pandeglang Regency, where the tsunami disaster becomes a priority disaster to address. With these results, the government and House of Local Representative members can consider changing previous regional regulations into new regional regulations that support efforts to reduce the risk of a tsunami disaster. The practical implications of this research suggest that every LDRA in Indonesia should use the results of disaster risk studies that are tailored to regional disaster priorities to capture the attention of local governments and secure disaster programs to be executed effectively every year.

Natural disaster recovery is a critical issue in rural Japan, yet repairing infrastructure, stabilising landscapes, and aiding those displaced is exceedingly expensive. Restoration of disaster affected landscapes mainly focuses on infrastructure repair, with less attention to socio-ecological activities pre- and post-disaster. The absence of integrated socio-ecological perspectives to disaster restoration creates missed opportunities for approaches more sensitive to local needs and resources. Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) frameworks attempt to bridge social and natural sciences with the effect that interactions between human and natural systems can emerge that might not be apparent by studying them separately. However, application of CHANS frameworks in the context of natural disaster recovery in rural Japan is limited, and more consideration of the challenges is needed. The aim of this paper is to describe the design of a CHANS project and summarize lessons learned in applying this complex framework. The CHANS project comprised four graduate student projects investigating different topics related to landslide recovery and future disaster vulnerability after the Northern Kyushu Heavy Rainfall in July 2012 event in rural Japan. For lessons learned, we suggest CHANS projects to be designed as a nested hierarchy of research questions, aims, objectives, and hypotheses to enable deeper synthesis at a higher level. Despite limitations in the design of our CHANS project, triangulation of data enabled us to conclude meaningful findings. When faced with limited resources, it is impossible to design a complex study accounting for all relevant factors, but a CHANS approach can enable integrated socio-ecological insights and foster innovative solutions for improving resource management and cost-effectiveness of disaster recovery plans.

A series of earthquakes hit Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyushu Island, Japan on April 14 and 16, 2016. Soon after the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, municipal governments carried out building damage surveys to issue disaster-victim certificates. The building damage caused by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake was serious in Mashiki Town, which is located close to the source region, but Uki City, next to that area, was also heavily damaged. The present authors have already developed several fragility curves using damage survey data from the Mashiki Town and Uki City governments. Some of the fragility curves for Mashiki Town rise sharply at low PGV levels because of the lack of damage data in the low PGV range. Compared with the fragility curves for Mashiki Town, the fragility curves for Uki City show a lower damage ratio for the same PGV. The fragility curves for Uki City were obtained using the damage data in the PGV range lower than those for Mashiki Town. In this study, we integrated the damage survey data of the Mashiki Town government and the Uki City government due to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, and constructed building fragility curves with respect to the structural material and construction period in combination with the estimated seismic motion distribution. The correlation coefficient showed a strong positive correlation of approximately 0.9 in all classifications of the building fragility curves covering a wide range of seismic ground motions. The validity of the proposed fragility curves was demonstrated and compared with existing fragility curves developed using damage survey data from local governments in other earthquakes.

As flooding is inevitable and becoming increasingly frequent, efficient flood management strategies should be developed to manage floods, especially in developing countries. Rainfall-Runoff-Inundation (RRI) model, which is based on a diffusive wave model, was applied to Gin River Basin, Sri Lanka using daily rainfall data. The RRI model was calibrated and validated for three past flood events (2003, 2016, and 2017) based on observed discharge data and inundation maps developed from ground survey data and satellite images. The Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) values for river discharge obtained at the downstream gauging station were greater than 0.7 during both the calibration and validation experiments. Simulated inundation data showed good agreement with the limited observational records. The Critical Success Index (CSI) value for inundated extent in large flood event (May 2017) within downstream was greater than 0.3. Incorporation of embankment information significantly improved the accuracy of the simulation of inundation extent during large flood events (May 2017). The CSI value without embankment information for large flood event (May 2017) within downstream decreased to around 0.1. On the other hand, the embankment information was less useful for smaller flood events caused by less extreme rainfall. Inclusion of embankment information for large flood events enhanced the model performance, thus ensuring the availability of accurate inundation information for efficient flood risk planning and management in the basin.

There is a growing need to introduce warning dissemination systems in disaster-prone regions to improve the coverage of information distribution. In this study, a warning dissemination system was designed in which disaster information transmitted by a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is received by terrestrial infrastructure, such as sirens and public transportation, converted into audio messages, and delivered automatically. The originality of the designed system lies in its appropriate integration of existing satellite systems and terrestrial infrastructure, making the system potentially applicable in many regions. First, we evaluated the effectiveness of the designed system in distributing audio messages using public buses in Brisbane, Australia, where large floods occur frequently. Real-time location information for public buses was acquired in the format of General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), which is currently used in many countries. Time-series changes in the coverage rate relative to both the flood inundation zone and population were calculated using a geographic information system (GIS). The simulation results showed that the system could reach 60% of the flood inundation zone and 70% of the population on a holiday, indicating that the designed system could be effectively adapted to the target area. The coverage rate was found to peak during 15:00–16:00, with minimum rates observed late at night and early in the morning. These results will allow the development of an effective disaster management plan. In the future, this system will be evaluated in other regions using the same calculation process.