Anna Matsukawa

This study proposes a scale that measures the disaster resilience of individuals as members of a disaster-resilient society. We constructed the Disaster Resilience Scale for Individuals (DRSi) by using the survey data of 10,000 individuals across Japan, and extracting 8 factors from 24 items. The verification process shows that DRSi scores differ based on the respondents’ gender and area of residence, thus reflecting the impact of gender-based division of roles in Japan, and region-specific disaster experiences. We also propose a short version of the DRSi for the convenience of data collection. Furthermore, DRSi is expected to work as an effective tool for measuring resilience at the individual level to evaluate the impact of an intervention on a local community.

Although the overall crime rate of an area decreases after a major disaster, the occurrence of some types of crime may increase. This may be explained by the routine activity theory, which suggests that the absence of a capable guardian and other factors induce occurrence of crime, such as when houses become temporarily unoccupied due to the evacuation of disaster victims and absence of competent guards. This study used interference analysis to investigate whether the aftermath of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, temporarily increased the number of burglaries in the affected areas. Specifically, we examined whether the number of recognized burglaries temporarily increased after the earthquakes by dividing the land in Kumamoto Prefecture into two areas: one with severe earthquake damage and the other with minor damage. Results demonstrated an increase in the number of burglaries in the severely damaged areas in April and May 2016. The impact of the earthquakes was significant in April, but decreased notably in May. Contrastingly, the number of burglaries remained unchanged in areas with minor earthquake damage. Therefore, a correlation was found between the severe damage caused by the earthquakes and the transient increase in the number of burglaries.

This study aims to explore the elements necessary to solve the problem of shelter quality in disaster-affected areas in Japan. The researchers identified twelve positive deviant good practice evacuation shelter management cases from four significant disasters over the past ten years. Interviews with twelve leaders were transcribed. Three disaster researchers from sociology, public health, and architectural backgrounds as well as two crisis management practitioners independently extracted key terms from the same transcript. Through the Affinity Diagram method, eight mutually exclusive super-conceptual clusters emerged. Five out of eight super-clusters corresponded with areas that were prescribed by the National government-issued Evacuation Shelter Management Guideline. Three unique super-clusters also appeared to be characteristic of the competent shelter operation.