A Public Health Perspective on Reconstructing Post-Disaster Japan

Abstract

This chapter reflects on the Great East Japan Earthquake through an analysis of three issues, starting with responses, moving then to consequences, and finally considering causes. First, I propose six public health principles for considering responses to the disasters and the reconstruction of Japan. The six principles provide a framework for assessing the responses to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Second, I examine the consequences of the disasters, especially for the victims and their struggle for redress. Potential responses are considered along three critical dimensions (care, compensation, and clean-up), based on the findings of a comparative study of responses to chemical disasters that I previously conducted. These three dimensions help the victims of disasters achieve redress. Each dimension of redress involves complex questions that go beyond technical aspects, and become involved in debates over politics and ethics. Third, I explore debates over fundamental causes of the nuclear power disaster. This exploration is based on the National Diet of Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission Report, which was submitted on 28 June 2012. The reflections on these three topics provide a broader context for other chapters in this book and also contribute to Japan’s ongoing deliberations about its recent past and future paths.

This chapter is a revised combination of three lectures given in Japanese: (1) Keynote Address to the Tohoku Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Fukushima City on 22 July 2011, (2) a lecture at the Japan Medical Association Symposium on Health Policy on 11 March 2012, and (3) Keynote Address for Rissho University’s 140th Anniversary Symposium in Tokyo on 13 October 2012. The author appreciates helpful comments from Dr. Aya Goto, Associate Professor of Public Health at Fukushima Prefecture Medical University.