Guest editorial: Tensions between tradition and innovation in disaster risk reduction, climate action and reconstruction

Elizabeth Maly (International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan)
Tamiyo Kondo (Research Center for Urban Safety and Security, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan)
Julia Gerster (International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan)

Disaster Prevention and Management

ISSN: 0965-3562

Article publication date: 12 November 2024

Issue publication date: 12 November 2024

199

Citation

Maly, E., Kondo, T. and Gerster, J. (2024), "Guest editorial: Tensions between tradition and innovation in disaster risk reduction, climate action and reconstruction", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 33 No. 5, pp. 453-454. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-11-2024-427

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited


We are pleased to introduce the papers in this special issue, selected from research presented at the 9th International i-Rec Conference, “Tensions Between Tradition and Innovation in Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Action, and Reconstruction: Reflecting on Tohoku’s Recovery Twelve Years Later,” held at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) Tohoku University, in Sendai, Japan, June 1–4, 2023.

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake struck off the northeast Tohoku coast of Japan, causing a massive and devastating tsunami and a nuclear meltdown at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The i-Rec conference was held in Japan for the first time in 2023, when the Tohoku region was entering the 2nd decade of recovery and reconstruction after the complex Great East Japan earthquake disaster. Communities in the region have experienced multiple disasters, but the area has also become a center of innovative and people-centered approaches to recovery.

As climate change brings larger and more frequent hazard events, holding the i-Rec 2023 Conference in the Asia–Pacific was a chance to learn from experts and practitioners directly involved in recent reconstruction efforts. This conference thus had a dual focus on the localized exchange of experiences and lessons of recovery in the Tohoku region of Japan, while also drawing from the body of knowledge and building connections globally. Representing a valuable contribution to sharing the lessons from Japan with an international audience, seven of the papers highlight various aspects of reconstruction in Japan, while these and other papers include valuable international comparative studies as well as lessons from important international cases of reconstruction.

Reflecting on a wide variety of perspectives and approaches to the idea of the tensions between tradition and innovation, the 12 papers in this special issue foreground a discussion of methodologies and practices to produce change in reconstruction and risk reduction efforts, including community-based and participatory action research and appreciative inquiry. Grounded in the recognition of the root causes of disaster and social vulnerability, authors consider the social impacts of disaster and resilient recovery. Based on analysis of public policy and disaster risk reduction in recovery and implications, they propose improvements, including policies and programs related to risk-based planning after disaster, building back better and gathering and conveying knowledge on community-based DRR and disaster education.

Drawing from global experiences in post-disaster reconstruction, several papers share findings from investigations of people-centered approaches and projects. Conceptualizing bottom-up initiatives, Herazo shares cases from informal settlements in Columbia, Cuba and Chile, examining geographies of risk and injustices through critical disaster studies. In another investigation of community participation and impacts on the living environments, Devilat suggests how advanced documentation techniques could be applied to support people-centered preparedness in Bela, India.

Leon also highlights the importance of better policies to support informal settlements without replicating risk, along with suggestions for reconstruction policy improvements based on an analysis of housing recovery policy and implementation after a wildland urban interface fire in Chile. Also focusing on housing recovery policy analysis and advocacy, Maly and Uto highlight the contribution and need for disaster case management in Japan to make housing recovery policy more accountable to disaster-affected survivors. Considering the technical aspects of reconstruction from the perspective of infrastructure recovery, Liu shares experiences and lessons for supplying construction materials for post-earthquake reconstruction in New Zealand.

Several authors focus on important issues of land use and urban planning in recovery. Özdogan highlights the critical factor of land management post-disaster in Türkiye and impacts from the dynamics of decision-making power in land management. In a qualitative three-country comparison, Otsuyama explores the role of land acquisition for recovery in Italy, the United States of America and Japan.

Among related studies focusing on the experiences of relocation and displacement following disasters, Tomobuchi shares findings from an exploration of community planning after the tsunami in Japan, including the planning for the relocation of homes and/or communities and impacts of multiple and/or long-term displacement nuclear evacuees from Fukushima face unique and ongoing challenges of displacement. Based on knowledge from close involvement and surveys of the affected area over a decade, Kawasaki provides unique insights for an international audience about the realities of nuclear disaster-affected communities in Fukushima.

Many papers share a major theme on roles of cultural heritage and memory in disaster and recovery, including discussions about the preservation/disruption of traditional patterns of life and how narratives of disaster experience are documented and conveyed, including several papers that focus on disaster heritage in Japan. Starosta investigates community narratives and cultural practices surrounding disaster memories in Indonesia and Japan to consider lessons for long-term disaster preparedness. Based on personal involvement in the process of preserving a tsunami-affected school as a museum, Motoe shares an example of how tsunami experiences were passed down as heritage through the community-based preservation of disaster heritage. Drawing from cases after the 2011 tsunami, as well as from historic experiences across the Tohoku region, Grau Vila shares lessons in disaster knowledge and preparedness from schools and communities.

We would like to sincerely thank all the paper authors, reviewers and journal editors for making this special issue possible, and the i-Rec community of researchers and practitioners for sharing your valuable knowledge and the vibrant and active discussions in Sendai and Tohoku. We would also like to express our gratitude for support from IRIDeS at Tohoku University and Kobe University Research Center for Urban Safety and Security (RCUSS) and the Center for Resilient Design (CResD).

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