What can, should governments do?

This video shows the 71,000-population city of Minamisoma, Japan, being washed away from this week's tsunami.

A factory building has collapsed in Sukagawa city, Fukushima prefecture, in northern Japan on March 11, 2011. A massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake shook Japan, unleashing a powerful tsunami that sent ships crashing into the shore and carried cars through the streets of coastal towns.

Japan has a unitary rather than federal system of government, in which local jurisdictions largely depend on national government financially.There are 47 administrative administrative divisions in the democratic parliamentary system of government, actually very similar to the UK, with less devolved sovereign powers.

This natural disaster will give us another opportunity to access government's response comparatively.

CNN had this interesting interview posted with Dave Mammen, an urban planner who has worked on disaster recovery efforts in Kobe, Japan and Aceh, Indonesia. He was a Visiting Professor at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI) at Kyoto University and has directed many joint research projects with Japanese government agencies, universities and thinktanks. His research on ten years of recovery efforts in New York after 9/11 will be published later this year in Japanese and English by Fuji Technology Press:

According to the U.S. Geological survey, more earthquakes are recorded in Japan than anywhere else—because it has “the densest seismic network in the world,” which probably means more earthquake monitoring goes on there than anywhere else. How well-prepared is Japan for the seemingly endless stream of earthquakes there?

Japan’s modern engineering and technology is well-prepared, as demonstrated by the vivid images of high-rise buildings swaying in downtown Tokyo.

Sadly Japan is not so well-prepared when it comes to public administration. I saw the head of one of the government agencies (I think it was the meteorological agency) giving a press conference today and all he could talk about was how Japan’s early warning systems had “worked properly” by giving residents a warning that a tsunami was coming. But actually relatively few people would have had high ground to get to, and not sufficient time. This bureaucrat’s officious and defensive tone made me very angry.

After Kobe’s earthquake in 1995, there was an outpouring of volunteers helping with relief efforts, and I hope and expect we will see something similar now. But the heavy hand of central government dictated most recovery efforts in Kobe, which were constrained to rebuilding what was damaged or destroyed.

Many good ideas for improvements and enhancements were not eligible for funding, and creative responses that could have taken into account transitions already underway in Kobe’s economy were stifled. Will Japan’s central and local governments be able to work together to recover from this disaster? How will citizen participation be activated after this disaster, and will official recovery planning accommodate the voices and concerns of the public? Time will tell.

You’re writing about recovery efforts in New York City after 9/11. Are there similarities—in terms of preparedness and/or recovery– between a man-made disaster, such as an act of terrorism, and a huge natural disaster?

Yes, I believe there are similarities. The damage and suffering from the World Trade Center disaster was immense, widespread, and prolonged. I believe we will be able to say the same of today’s disaster.

After the immediate emergency response, a long-term recovery and rebuilding program will be needed. I hope the Japanese will take heed of an observation by the co-founder of The September 11^th Fund here in New York who wisely noted that not everything that needs to be done is obvious on Day One.

For example, World Trade Center disaster-associated physical and mental health issues have come into focus only slowly over the past ten years, and we are just now formulating proper responses to these recovery needs.

All of the reputable disaster relief agencies will be providing assistance, which will be needed in huge amounts for a very long time: American Red Cross, Save the Children, Salvation Army, Global Giving, etc. For those who feel a sense of shared humanity with the Japanese who are suffering, the best way to help is by donating money to the agency of your choice.

As I write these notes, I have just heard from another colleague who lives in Nagoya, two hours southwest of Tokyo. He writes, “We are afraid that this earthquake will be a trigger to cause another great earthquake in the southern area of Japan.”

http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/12/dave-mammen-lessons-from-911-will-apply-to-helping-earthquake-victims-in-japan/