Listen to what the people have to say about reconstruction

March 11, 2014

EDITORIAL: Residents' views should come first in Tohoku reconstruction work

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201403110035

Three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami devastated the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, many people are lamenting the slow progress in efforts to rebuild the disaster areas.

Myriad problems are hampering the work: bureaucratic sectionalism, difficulty in securing necessary land plots and serious shortages of construction workers and materials.

Some residents in the affected areas, however, have called for a halt to projects that the central and local governments are racing to carry out, even though they are aware their actions will delay the reconstruction of their communities.

Why have they done so?

STUDY GROUP BY WORRIED RESIDENTS

Early this month in Kesennuma, a coastal city in Miyagi Prefecture, a small meeting of local residents was held, with discussions focused on the proposed construction of a tide embankment.

The residents remain saddened over the fact that the tsunami left more than 1,400 Kesennuma citizens dead or missing. But at the same time they are concerned that the planned embankment could have a negative impact on the two key local industries--fisheries and tourism.

“Some people say the tide embankment should be as high as possible, but the city’s slogan is ‘Living with the sea,’” Kiyoshi Morita, a doctor, said at the meeting. “I’m not sure if an embankment that is too high is good (for the city).”

“We naturally hesitate to argue that we don’t need an embankment in front of people who have lost their family members,” said Kazue Takahashi, president of a local company selling kimono accessories. “But if an embankment is built, our offspring would have to shoulder the heavy costs of necessary maintenance and future reconstruction. What if only a dilapidated concrete structure that cannot really protect (the coast communities) from waves is left behind?”

Many of the people who spoke at the meeting are members of a group set up by local residents in summer 2012, slightly more than a year after the disaster, to study issues related to the planned embankment.

At that time, the Miyagi prefectural government was holding meetings in each district to explain the embankment project. Residents, who were preoccupied with the struggle to rebuild their shattered lives, mostly remained silent at such meetings while listening to prefectural officials use jargon-filled language to explain the project.

The prefectural government tried to go ahead with the project, saying no objection was raised in these briefing sessions.

Alarmed by the situation, some citizens led by Akihiko Sugawara, a member of the Kesennuma Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established a volunteer group to discuss the embankment plan. Nearly 30 people, including local fishermen, merchants, business owners and members of nonprofit organizations, added their names to the list of promoters.

NOT AN EITHER-OR CHOICE

The members of the new group thought that outright debate on the appropriateness of the plan would cause a rift among residents. In the first place, they had no knowledge about tide embankments, so they decided to put aside the issue of whether to support the plan and learn from the local administrative officials in charge and various experts.

The group gained a wide range of knowledge.

Only four months after the disaster, the central government decided on procedures for determining details of new embankment plans, such as the maximum scale of assumed tsunami and the heights of proposed embankments.

Based on past data and technical calculations, the Miyagi prefectural government decided on the heights of new tide embankments that should be built within the prefecture. For Kesennuma, tide embankments as tall as several meters to 10-odd meters were needed, according to the prefectural government.

A higher embankment would increase the safety against tsunami. However, if such a new levee leads to a decline of key local industries, it would become impossible for children and grandchildren of current Kesennuma residents to continue living in the city.

Members of the study group discussed the likely opinions of residents as well as what should be protected.

It was clearly difficult to achieve a complete consensus. Study group members thought this issue should not be decided simply by a majority vote. They also believed it was not a matter of merely saying “yes” or “no” to the embankment.

They tried to reach a decision that was acceptable to as many citizens as possible.

The group decided to develop an alternative plan to be presented to the prefectural government and asked for ideas from the public. Group members thought that widening the scope of options and narrowing down the list would lead to a decision based at least on an understanding of the affected individuals.

In August and September 2013, the group held direct talks with Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai, who argued for building an embankment according to the prefectural government’s plan. While the two sides failed to iron out their differences, they at least agreed to continue exploring various ideas.

In January this year, a final proposal was presented to build the embankment in the Naiwan district, located at the inner Kesennuma Bay, which is a geographic symbol of the city.

The original plan called for a 5-meter-high embankment all along the coast of the Naiwan inlet. But the final plan calls for an embankment that leaves part of the coastline open and the creation of a park on the embankment with a commanding view of the sea.

In some other parts, movable metal flap gates that are raised when a tsunami warning is issued will be used to reduce the height of the embankment in normal times.

The prefectural government has also revised its embankment plans for two beaches on Oshima island off the city in response to opposition from the local communities. It takes 20 minutes to go from the Naiwan district to the island by ship.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

But only a small number of such changes have been made to original plans in response to objections from local residents.

Municipal governments and communities are worried that opposition to prefectural or central government plans could result in budget cuts. They are also concerned that any significant delay in the embankment project would lead to a suspension of construction of fishing facilities.

Construction work is already under way for nearly 70 percent of about 90 embankment projects for Kesennuma, according to the municipal government.

Rebuilding damaged communities is not a simple challenge. After the removal last autumn of a large fishing boat that had been carried by the tsunami to an inland area of the city, the number of tourist buses to Kesennuma fell sharply. This episode underscores the complicated nature of the challenge.

Still, Sugawara, who has become head of the city’s chamber of commerce and industry, takes a positive view about the effects of the efforts made by the study group.

“The process of discussing the embankment plan itself will serve as a foundation for the efforts to rebuild the city,” he said.

Reconstructing disaster-hit areas will be a drawn-out process. Progress has stalled in various areas, and in some cases, government-proposed measures are out of sync with the wishes of the residents.

In other cases, consensus among residents cannot be reached because of conflicts of interest.

The lesson to be gleaned from Kesennuma’s efforts is the importance of “responsibility for future generations” and “understanding of the local residents living now.”

To ensure these viewpoints receive the attention they deserve, it is necessary for each individual to think about related issues and try to find common ground among residents, instead of leaving everything to the government.

This is a challenge that is also confronting many areas that were not affected by the disaster but are grappling with problems of an aging population and a fiscal squeeze.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 11