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For most Japanese companies and organizations, the enormous damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) was greater than expected. In addition to the great tsunami and the earthquake motion, the lack of electricity, fuel and other supplies disturbed recovery efforts and activities for business continuity. This should be considered an important constraint factor of large earthquakes. The Japanese government and industries should utilize the lessons of the GEJE and execute effective countermeasures, considering the concern of other great earthquakes occurring in Japan in the near future.Of the countermeasures, improving the earthquake-resistance of buildings and facilities is the most basic approach. In addition, the spread of a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) and BCM (Business Continuity Management) to private and public organizations is also indispensable. Based on the lessons of the GEJE, BCM should more clearly include the standpoint of supply chain management, and emphasize "alternate strategy" more. The central and local governments are requested, in addition, to develop their own BCP and to prepare prerequisites for the BCM of private sectors, such as showing damage estimations in detail and improving related frameworks.

Serious damages to enterprises as well as residences and infrastructure resulted from the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. Important factories of the automobile, information technology, chemical, and other industries were located in the affected area. The nature of the damage was that there was significant damages to the building of enterprises located near the fault that caused the strong Earthquake. The geographical scope of damage to the enterprises was not very wide.The authors performed continuous research on the public announcements posted on the websites of the affected enterprises for several months, following up with news reports on damaged enterprises and on-site interviews. We found that a considerable number of enterprises supplied their products to their important customers from substitute sites to achieve their business continuity. On the other hand, many enterprises attained early on-the-spot recovery, which might be explained partly by the fact that recovery of essential utilities, particularly electricity and telecommunications, was relatively quick.The authors found many examples of effective utilization of the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). For example, some enterprises adopted the substitution strategy of business continuity management (BCM) that fulfills the responsibility to maintain supplies to the customers. Other enterprises that had experienced the GEJE avoided serious direct damage by having installed adequate earthquake countermeasures to their buildings and facilities.

Construction restrictions implemented in some coastal areas of Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture, after the Great East Japan Earthquake were necessary for reconstructing residences and town buildings; however, they were criticized for delaying the recovery and reconstruction of the fish processing industry that was affected by the disaster. In areas that were affected by the construction restrictions, a foundation development for the Cluster Zone (CZ) of fish processing industry facilities was implemented, and companies were only allowed to rebuild their plants more than three years later when the project was completed. In areas that became designated for a land readjustment project (LRP) several years after the disaster, plants that had been repaired were forced to relocate. The present study targeted the fish processing industry of Kesennuma City and conducted a questionnaire on companies that had their offices in the areas that were likely impacted by such policies and projects. We conducted an interview to understand the specific impact of such policies and projects on company management. Based on the above survey, we reached the following conclusions. First, many companies that had plants in the scheduled CZ, which was determined after the disaster, relocated their plants. Many companies felt that construction restrictions and the foundation development project (FDP) for the CZ delayed the recovery of plants. Second, companies that were impacted by the FDP of the CZ, LRP, etc. experienced delays in the recovery of sales channels and hiring, the dispersion of plants, increased costs due to the move, and the abandonment of some manufacturing. Third, as measures to alleviate the impact on companies of the government preparing industrial lands after large-scale disasters, we discuss measures to speed up project implementation, support for the use of production bases, and other important aspects.

The first real estate securitization project of the traditional townhouses in Kyoto (Kyo-Machi-ya) started in 2006. The authors and the vehicle company of this project jointly sent out the questionnaire to the investors. The result of the survey shows 1) most investors were interested in reservation/renewal of the Kyo-Machi-ya, 2) 68% of the investors responded that the dividend rate was not so important, and 3) nearly half of them might invest even if the dividend rate (3%) was two percent points lower. The problem was that the profitability was supported by the drastic cost cut by way of very low fees (like unpaid volunteers) for arrangers and specialists. However, this project suggested the possibility of new finance methods forrenewal of traditional townhouses.keywords: real estate securitization, traditional townhouse(Machi-ya), dividend rate

The Statistical Database on the Great East Japan Earthquake (SDJE) has been developed as an information resource to assist in research and preparations for future disasters in Japan and other countries. The SDJE was initiated in January 2016 by the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) of Tohoku University. As a university in the affected area of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE), Tohoku University acknowledges with gratitude the participation in GEJE relief and recovery activities of organizations and people from elsewhere in the country and abroad, and in response has undertaken a number of initiatives to provide scientific information and the lessons from the GEJE. For example, IRIDeS hosts and acts as the secretariat of the Global Centre for Disaster Statistics and has now developed this new database. The SDJE provides comprehensive data on the GEJE in both English and Japanese, drawing widely on data originally provided by the national and local governments and private organizations, including considerable contents taken from the white papers of Japan’s Cabinet Office and other national ministries. The data coverage extends from the time of the GEJE to currently produced materials. In addition, a “Link Collection” of Japanese statistics related to disasters is provided to support statistical analysis of the social and economic effect of the GEJE, for example through correlation analysis, and to assist researchers to better understand the context of the disaster and the disaster statistics. It is hoped that many people worldwide will find the content of the database useful for disaster risk reduction activities.

As a countermeasure against M8–9 class Nankai Trough earthquakes, the Japan Meteorological Agency started a service to release “Nankai Trough Earthquake Extra Information (Megathrust Earthquake Alert).” This alert is released after an M8.0 or higher earthquake occurs and the possibility of a subsequent earthquake is evaluated to be higher than usual. This is an innovative attempt at disaster mitigation in Japan as it encourages residents in the predefined area to pre-evacuate for one week when tsunami risk is higher. However, the factors influencing the evacuation behavior of residents are unknown. In this study, we investigated factors contributing to residents’ pre-event evacuation intentions using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. We focused on the extent to which the recognition of the hazards and risks of the Nankai Trough earthquake and the response to the Extra Information, which are changeable by the local governments’ public relations activities, contributed to pre-event evacuation intentions after controlling for disaster-related general attitude and sociodemographic factors. Further, we paid special attention to residents’ degree of recognition of this information by checking the accuracy of their understanding of whether they lived within the pre-event evacuation area. The results showed that the recognition factors were relevant but less so than the general attitude toward disaster and more so than the sociodemographic factors. In addition, residents’ recognition accuracy was low. Our results suggest that it is important for local governments to make adequate efforts to encourage residents to evacuate.

The occurrence rate of a subsequent earthquake is estimated to become a hundred times more than that at ordinary times when a case of partial rupture of the Nankai Trough Earthquake occurs. Companies and organizations that play a key role in social activities should take practicable actions positively in cooperation with relevant actors. Their recommended correspondences would be different by area according to the influence level by the subsequent partial rupture earthquake. Areas would be classified into three types: 1) strong earthquakes and tsunami are anticipated, 2) strong earthquakes without tsunami are anticipated, and 3) neither strong earthquakes nor tsunami is anticipated (this area should contribute as a supporter). There is also difference depending on business character and industry type. Therefore, it would be effective to examine the responses in the case of partial rupture, counting these differences in, and based on their business continuity plans (BCP). The authors will propose a recommended correspondence method (“recipe”) as an example of this means. In addition, there should be recommended actions of companies and organizations such as their operations not preventing evacuation and stockpiling in the local communities.