ブックタイトルRecommendations to prepare for future mega-disasters in Japan

概要

Recommendations to prepare for future mega-disasters in Japan

? Targeted assistance for the affected populations who cannot be reached rapidly or withspecific critical needs: Local authorities are allowed to interpret the existing legal provisionsrelated to disaster response when setting their boundaries of beneficiaries and types ofassistance. However, until the central Government communicates how the law should beapplied more concretely, the local authorities would not be able to trigger certain types ofassistance. Moreover, there is always communication time-lag until the decision iscommunicated down to the ground level and shared among the staff, particularly when theyare busy responding to the local emergencies with their extremely stretched capacity.Particularly at the onset of the disasters, there are many critical occasions where NGOs andNPOs can offer help and make time sensitive interventions without waiting for initiatives tobe taken by the public institutions.(2) Role of NGOs/NPOs in disaster responseBefore the GEJE, the existence of NGOs/NPOs and the unique role that they could play inassisting the affected populations were not fully recognised by the public institutions -especially by the local authorities. In the Disaster Management Basic Act, references aremade to‘other relevant parties’or neighbourhood and solidarity based voluntaryorganisations. Although it is assumed that NGOs and NPOs are included in these categories,the specific areas and degree of contribution that NGOs/NPOs can make are largely differentfrom what individual volunteers can offer. In the current set-up, therefore, potential capabilityof the NGOs and NPOs are not fully explored, and the impact of their contributions in theresponse could be well underestimated.Individual volunteers showing up in the affected areas tend to operate in an ad hoc manner.Therefore, their general tasks matched with the needs - such as moving relief items or clearingmud and cleaning at the household level - usually do not require much of the specialist skills.On the other hand, NGOs and NPOs are groups of trained staff who accumulated experienceand can demonstrate their expertise. Therefore, NGOs/NPOs can commit themselves toimplement their designed activities with necessary inputs and in coordination with otherorganisations. The NPOs/NGOs can be considered supportive resources as they aim to securequalified staff and conduct training to ensure quality of their programmes at a certain level.Therefore, the central, prefectural and municipal governments should value the competenciesthat NGOs/NPOs have; clearly recognise and articulate the role of NGOs/NPOs in theirdisaster management plans; and utilise their capacity in the actual disaster response.In response to the GEJE, NGOs distributed NFI kits for temporary houses such as beddingand cooking items, or provided some cash support to cover these needs. However, some arguethat the public institutions could have better covered the needs by interpreting the Disaster50