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J apan's Post‐Disaster Economic Reconstruction: From K obe to T ohoku
Author(s) -
Hayashi Toshihiko
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
asian economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.345
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1467-8381
pISSN - 1351-3958
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8381.2012.02082.x
Subject(s) - politics , natural disaster , history , economics , economy , political science , law , geography , meteorology
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of how economic reconstruction is carried out after major natural disasters in J apan, where disaster casualties have been declining but economic damage has been increasing over the past century. The K obe and T ohoku earthquakes were exceptionally rare incidents. The G reat H anshin– A waji E arthquake ( K obe) on 17 J anuary 1995 killed more than 6000 people, and the G reat E ast J apan E arthquake ( T ohoku) on 11 M arch 2011 killed approximately 18 000 people. We will recapitulate the post‐disaster reconstruction process in K obe and draw lessons for T ohoku. After discussing the relative magnitude of economic damage, public and private finance for reconstruction, political leadership and the role of the academic community, we conclude that post‐disaster reconstruction means a whole new process of economic development for the affected people, the communities and the nation alike.