Great East Japan Earthquake

GIS as an Information Infrastructure for Recovery and Reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake
Author: Kayoko Yamamoto
Link to PDF: http://www.davidpublishing.com/show.html?8014

This article examines the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 and discusses possible approaches for the recovery and reconstruction of the disaster-struck areas as well as measures to reduce the impact of future natural disasters using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS, with its major functions (database construction, information analysis, information sharing/provision and decision making) would become the basis for an information infrastructure that will also use information and communication technology (ICT) as a data source. It is argued that firstly a database should be constructed that contains basic local information such as natural conditions, local economy and society needs. This information will be combined with local knowledge, i.e. records and knowledge accumulated by past generations of past natural disasters and the damages caused. In order to be able to benefit from such local databases, not only in times of an emergency but also for other diverse purposes, it is suggested to not only to construct them for disaster zones, but for all areas nationwide.

Lastly, the author discusses the possibility of linking the GIS databases to ICT information, such as social media. This will allow people who are not familiar with GIS to be involved in the data collection process and information can be updated locally and in a faster way. In times of a disaster, this would allow a faster and more adequate distribution of help and resources needed. Although such information collected by non-professionals has to be handled with care regarding reliability and accuracy, the approach of combining local GIS databases with ICT data provides a useful tool for recovery and reconstruction measures that fits well in our computerized society.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Japanese citizens have been worried about radioactive contamination, the recovery and reconstruction. As this will be long-term problem, I hope that by this approaches, all people will know about and appreciate the benefits of GIS.