Resilience in Disaster Management and Public Policy: A Case Study of the Tohoku Disaster

Abstract

The Tohoku Disaster has had wide ranging and interconnected effects on social, environmental, and economic systems. Because Japan was arguably one of the world's most prepared nations in dealing with natural disasters, experts and policy makers have been struggling to answer questions like “How could Japan have been more resilient?” and “How could Japan have been better prepared?” This paper seeks to address two key gaps related to the integration of resilience into disaster management and public policy: (i) Few studies have provided an overarching analytical or structural framework for the inclusion of resilience into public policy and disaster management and (ii) few institutions have provided guidance as to the specific operational components of resilience and how to implement it. The paper outlines an analytical framework and an overarching structure for resilience-based disaster management and public policy, focusing on the structure and components of resilience. Then, it examines how resilience can be incorporated into actionable disaster management policies, drawing on analyses of the experiences and lessons from the Tohoku Disaster.