Spatial Economic Modelling of Megathrust Earthquake in Japan

Abstract

The Great East Japan Earthquake, which struck on March 11, 2011, had a massive economic impact, primarily on the affected areas in Japan. The Indian Ocean Tsunami hit Aceh and Nias, Indonesia, on December 26, 2004 and destroyed life and infrastructure within 10 kilometers of the coastline in north and western Aceh. In this book, we examine the economic and human damage inflicted by megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis and analyze the economic effects of policies for reconstruction and regional renewal after such catastrophes, using a spatial and economic model. The contents of this book are as follows: Part I, Impacts of the Great East Japan Earthquake, is composed of three chapters that form a foundation on which further earthquake research can be based. Part II, Reconstruction and Regional Renewal after the Great East Japan Earthquake, focuses on reconstruction and regional renewal after the Great East Japan Earthquake amid a declining Japanese population, using reconstruction budgets and industrial clusters. Part III analyzes the impact and reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake, in a depopulating society, as summarized in Parts I and II. Part III evaluates regional impacts of megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis, such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Nankai Megathrust Earthquake, the Tokai earthquake in Japan, and the Indian Ocean Tsunami in Asia.