The goal of disaster recovery is for survivors to regain stability in their lives, livelihoods, and housing. A people-centered housing recovery requires that residents are empowered to make decisions about their housing reconstruction, and that policies create housing options that support the ability of all residents to reconstruct their homes and lives. The 1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake caused the largest amount of damage in Japan since World War II, and the subsequent recovery is a starting point for understanding contemporary post-disaster housing reconstruction policies in Japan. Beyond an overview of housing reconstruction programs, we can understand the impact these policies had on Kobe residents' housing and community recovery. In many cases, housing policies implemented after the Kobe earthquake fragmented communities and caused further damage and disruption in the lives of the survivors. A single-track approach failed to support the entire population of the disaster-stricken area. In subsequent years, Japanese disaster reconstruction laws and policies have seen modifications and improvements. Some of these changes can be seen in cases of recovery after more recent disasters, notably after the 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake in Niigata Prefecture. In the context of these past examples, we can consider what is needed for a people-centered recovery in the Tohoku area after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.
The process of post-disaster housing reconstruction is a major factor for survivors to be able to regain stability in their lives, which is the underlying goal of disaster recovery. Along with the implementation of reconstruction programs, the form and the design of the housing itself can have a significant impact on residents' lives. In the process that starts from emergency shelter immediately after a disaster though the phases of recovery and ultimately to permanent housing reconstruction, the housing used in the temporary or transitional phase can play an especially pivotal role. After the Central Java earthquake that struck the city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia and surrounding region in 2006, the housing reconstruction process incorporated an incrementally expandable core house. This study looks at the outcome of the core houses in 2 different villages south of Yogyakarta, the pottery village of Kasongan, and a rural village of Tlogo in Kebon Agung. Differences in timing and funding sources for the implementation of the core houses in these cases resulted in different outcomes, and different levels of success in terms of expansion. Through this study we can understand both the potential of the core house in post-disaster reconstruction, and also the importance of coordinated implementation for its success.
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