Lessons from Kesennuma delivered to Nagano [Nagano/Japan]
SEEDS Asia has been implementing a community disaster recovery project for the areas affected by the typhoon Hagibis in 2019, in partnership with JANPIA and the Japan Platform. The project, among other outputs, has provided an series of online lectures with the aim of assisting the affected communities in drawing a blueprint for their recovery, by inviting experts to share their knowledge in different fields.
On 15th and 22nd January, Mr. Atsushi Kikuta, a current council member of Kesennuma City, lectured on how the Hashikami district in Kesennuma City which was devastated by the 2011 East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami was able to formulate their district community development plan. Mr. Kikuta, who hails from the district, was working for the local agricultural cooperative and became the first chairperson of the council which was responsible for the drafting and coordinating for the district community development plan.
Hashikami district covers a range of the city’s coastline and was one of areas most affected by the earthquake and tsunami among the districts in Kesennuma City. Many buildings collapsed or were washed away, leaving hundreds of people homeless. Those who lost their homes were initially accommodated in temporary housing units, and were to move out to post-disaster recovery houses in 2013, when the locals started to deliberate about the future of their community of Hashikami district, and how it would evolve during the process of recovery from the disaster.
As discussions progressed on the key principles of the community’s development, it was clear that a vision for a “common future” was needed. The community clearly felt the need for developing a path towards the future, ensuring that individuals within the community would be able to contribute and have their voices heard. These efforts led to the creation of a collective group, which not only worked with members of the community, but also with government entities to handle disaster recovery actions. Mr. Kikuta recalled this attitude of the district, highlighting that “ … 70% of the planned actions were spontaneously proposed by the district, while 30% were requests to the government to implement.”
We often hear about the challenges of balancing public help and other kinds of assistance (self-help, mutual help, etc.) needed for communities affected by disasters. Each disaster is different and needs different kinds of actions by different stakeholders, but the experiences shared by Mr. Kikuta are certainly helpful for anyone facing such situations, whether part of an affected community or a government entity.