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| Norio Maki (Research Assistant at Kyoto University) |
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| Japan has recently experienced a series of serious natural disasters, each of which was accompanied by an extensive collapse of houses, including the eruption of Fugen-Unzen Volcano in 1990, the Hokkaido Southwestern Offing Earth quake in 1993 and the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake on January 17, 1995. Island countries in Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, have a lso been hit by a great number of natural disasters. When natural disasters in Southeast Asia are reported by the Japanese media, it is always Japan's eco nomic support for the suffering countries that is focused upon. But there are many things we have to learn from these countries with respect to their after-disaster housing reconstruction know-how. I have made research on housing reconstruction after natural disaster in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, in cooperation with researchers from the two latter countries. | |||
| 1. After-Disaster Housing in Indonesia After the Bali Earthquake in 1976, a housing reconstruction program which reflected the traditional housing style and community structure of this area was carried out. A number of people are still living in housing units reconst ructed at that time. On the contrary, very few people still live in the reset tlement district developed during the resettlement project which was carried out after the Flores Earthquake in 1993 for a village hit by the earthquake. |
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| 2. After-Disaster Housing in the Philippines The eruption of Pinatubo Volcano in 1991 caused damage and affected morethan 2 million people up until 1993. They still suffer from mud flood during the rainy season. The Philippine government and some NGOs have been carrying out resettlement projects for people who lost their houses in those natural disasters. The housing problem of the Aetas or "the uplanders", who used to live on slash-and- burn-farming and hunting at the foot of Mt.Pinatubo,, is also serious. |
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| 3. After-Disaster Housing in Japan In Okushiri Island, which was heavily damaged by the Hokkaido Southwestern Offing Earthquake, new houses have been constructed steadily with a housing reconstruction aid of nearly 10 million yen allotted from collected contributions. In Unzen, all temporary housing units have already been dismantled. People who lost their houses are now living in social housing units built particularly for the victims of the eruption or in houses they reconstructed themselves. Nearly 50,000 units of temporary housing were built for the victims of the Hanshin Awaji Great Earthquake. Since they are supposed to leave those temporary houses and find places for settlement within 1997, the dismantling of these housing units is likely to cause a big problem. |
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