Relocation after tsunamis in the Sanriku area and the condition of fishing villages two years after the 2011 Great East Japan tsunami

Abstract

The 2011 Great East Japan tsunami severely damaged or destroyed most of the fishing ports and facilities along the Sanriku coast. Reconstruction is ongoing, and a relocation plan has already been enacted. Interviews with fishermen in three fishing villages were performed to obtain reports on current situations as well as opinions and problems. For each village, information regarding reconstruction after historical tsunamis and the 2011 tsunami were obtained, and comparisons were made amongst the target villages. A land ownership problem was found in Tadakoshi village. Moving to high ground was proposed for the first time after the 2011 tsunami in Niranohama village. Housing relocation occurred in some parts of Tadakoshi and Yagawa after historical tsunamis in the Sanriku area, but the whole village will be relocated to high ground in the future, as lessons from the 2011 tsunami revealed that the tsunami inundation area was much larger. In general, all of the villages are still facing problems resulting from land subsidence where the ports are partly submerged during high tide. Although there are some small differences in detail, the three villagers have the same desire to move the entire community to high ground, making high seawalls unnecessary because there will be no more houses on the low land area. Some disagreement regarding the height of seawalls remains between coastal residents and local governments.