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Almost 20 years have passed since the M9.1 earthquake occurred on the plate boundary off Sumatra, Indonesia 2004. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 92 Indonesian educational trainees (around 2 years old and under 10 years old in 2004) on their memories of the earthquake disaster that occurred in their country 20 years ago and on their awareness of earthquakes. The questionnaire showed that 50% (n=43/84) of the students answered that they "never remember" or "do not remember much" the M9.1 Sumatra earthquake, and 49% (n=43/88) of the students answered that they had never seen a video of the earthquake. When asked if they could explain the mechanism of the earthquake, 42% (n=37/88) answered "No" or "Difficult". These results indicate that in the case of Indonesia, the students have little memory or awareness of the Sumatra earthquake, 20 years later. On the other hand, Japan is also one of the most earthquake-prone countries and experienced a M9.0 earthquake off the coast of Tohoku 12 years ago. Hence, this research emphasizes the importance of continuous education on earthquakes, disaster prevention, and mitigation to ensure that the Great East Japan Earthquake is not forgotten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, disaster victims have already moved from temporary housing to permanent housing. It is a few years after this movement that especially in the tsunami-affected urban areas, middle-aged and middle-income victims in disaster public housing came to be replaced into low-income and unaffected people owing to the income cap. In the course of time, it was questioned whether disaster public housing should be for victims or for needy people. Thus, residential associations were becoming weak year by year, and the community generation is required again in disaster public housing. Since the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, Japanese sociologists have not sufficiently argued the community generation in disaster public housing in contrast to temporary housing. Moreover, trends of sociological studies changed from descriptions of the community generation based on the qualitative investigation into analyses of the residents' sense of their recovery based on the quantitative one. Now that the number of disaster volunteers was decreased and that the very disaster public housing is becoming like a welfare institution, sociologists should explore another way of the community generation. This paper takes up a disaster public housing complex "Tago Nishi Saigai Kouei Jutaku" in Sendai-City, Miyagi-Prefecture and illustrates the process of supporting the community generation in the past decade by neighborhood associations near the complex, by the community center and by the land developer. The development project of Tago Nishi district, started in 1990s but to be stagnant, was accelerated by the reconstruction from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. In Tago Nishi District, there were four blocks provided for disaster victims, and Tago Nishi disaster public housing complex was built in one of those blocks. Thinking of this case, we can divide three subjects and logics of supporting the community generation. One is the support network organized by neighborhood associations before victims moved into the complex. This network constructed human relationships inside the complex to form a residential association. Another subject is the community center, which holds hobby and sports activities to facilitate relationships among people in Tago Nishi district. The other is the land developer, which opened a free space to interact with each other in order to promote relationships between people in Tago Nishi district and those in its outside. The community generation seen in Tago Nishi disaster public housing complex is summarized as the multiple-layered, medium- to long-term one. Neighborhood associations made a formal organization during an early stage, and both the community center and the land developer are, based on this foundation, trying to create various informal groups. It is true that the approach of neighborhood associations is different from that of the community center and the land developer; the former is instrumental and the latter consummatory, but both approaches are complementary in the community generation of disaster public housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear accident had caused long-term and wide-area evacuation nationwide, and the issue of how to support people who "want to return but cannot return" emerged in various places. In this paper, while comparing Saitama and Aichi prefectures, the achievements and issues of wide-area evacuees' support over the past 10 years have been clarified. The two prefectures have some common characteristics. In both the prefectures, private organizations have held exchange meetings, legal counseling / mental care, individual visits, and published information magazines in cooperation with prefectural offices, municipalities, and experts. While providing such support in multiple layers in both the prefectures, it has been also aimed to provide support with as wide a frontage as possible to the evacuees of various backgrounds and positions. The biggest issue, common to both the prefectures, is how long and till when to continue the support for the evacuees. However, different local governance was formed depending on the initial response of the prefectural office and the number of evacuees. In Aichi Prefecture, with the background in traditional disaster response and collaborative rule making, support such as establishment of public-build and private office, utilization of evacuee lists, and individual response had been developed. On the other hand, in Saitama Prefecture, in the absence of these conditions, support groups had restrictions on the use of personal information. Another difference is that in Aichi Prefecture, under the scale of about 1,200 evacuees, the construction of macromeso-level network and micro-level individual support were developed in tandem. In contrast, in Saitama Prefecture, there were more than 7,000 evacuees at the maximum, and it was difficult to discuss the macromeso- level and micro-level support at the same place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the reconstruction progress and future of local communities in tsunamiaffected areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Mental problems have been cited as a long-term issue affecting victims in the areas. At the same time, these areas have also seen the withdrawal of supporters. These withdrawals are unavoidable as reconstruction progresses because most of the supporters come from outside the region. Therefore, the local communities must build a foundation to support victims' lives. Thus, we must ask, what kind of process has been followed? I would like to focus on the loss and regaining process of "ikigai" (=the reason for existence) of victims, based on the contents of my book, The Sociology of Post-Earthquake Reconstruction and of the reason for existence. This paper will discuss three cases in Iwanuma City and Watari Town. In the case of farmers in Iwanuma, the damage caused by the tsunami and the reconstruction policies of building "strong agriculture" changed the area's industrial structure. Most elderly farmers accepted the policies and decided to retire, but were troubled by the loss of their daily habits, and having "nothing to do." To overcome this, they restarted farming as a way of life, which was opposite to the planned policy. However, not all victims could address loss of livelihood by themselves, therefore, the support activities conducted by non-profit groups (NPOs) were successful. The "Healthy Agriculture" program in Watari provided an opportunity to overcome the loss of the way of life. However, when supporters withdrew in 2016, after 5 years from the disaster, the continuation of the activities became problematic. Another NPO led by residents then took over, and a sense of community was created among the inland and coastal residents, who had little to do with each other before. Based on these results, I would like to suggest discussion themes for future research on regions and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]