Abstract
There is increasing interest in using Google Street View (GSV) for research purposes, particularly with regard to “virtually auditing” the built environment to assess environmental quality. Research in this field to date generally suggests GSV is a reliable means of understanding the “real world” environment. But limitations around the dates and resolution of images have been identified. An emerging strand within this literature is also concerned with the potential of GSV to understand recovery post-disaster. Using the GSV data set for the evacuated area around the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear power plant as a case study, this article evaluates GSV as a means of assessing disaster recovery in a dynamic situation with remaining uncertainty and a significant value and emotive dimension. The article suggests that GSV does have value in giving a high-level overview of the post-disaster situation and has potential to track recovery and resettlement over time. Drawing on social science literature relating to Fukushima, and disasters more widely, the article also argues it is imperative for researchers using GSV to reflect carefully on the wider socio-cultural contexts that are often not represented in the photo montage.
Highlights
The March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP), triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, led to large-scale releases of radiation over the land and sea of Fukushima Prefecture
This study evaluates the possibility of using Google Street View (GSV) to track recovery from a disaster such as Fukushima where the risk to humans may not be immediately visible, where there is significant subjectivity around what constitutes adequate recovery, and where citizens’ and decision makers’ values and perceptions heavily influence how the issue is viewed
We provide contextual information to aid the reader in understanding the topic matter of the article— namely, how the land around the FDNPP is represented in GSV
Summary
The March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP), triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, led to large-scale releases of radiation over the land and sea of Fukushima Prefecture. The causes and immediate effects of the Fukushima disaster are certainly unique, the longer-term recovery issues may share similarity to other natural and human-induced disasters (for example, the effects of climate change) in that they are characterized by significant uncertainty, have profound effects on where and how citizens can live their lives, and could potentially even be irreversible. Tracking recovery under such ecological and societal complexity may yield useful lessons for the management and mitigation of future disasters. It argues in particular that whilst GSV is a useful tool for disaster scholars, when making judgments as to the ‘‘recovery’’ or otherwise of an area it is imperative to temper conclusions drawn from GSV imagery with wider contextual understanding, especially in terms of the sociopolitical dimensions of the disaster
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