The convenience of temporary housing complexes in Iwate Prefecture constructed after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

Abstract

This study compares the convenience of temporary housing complexes in the Iwate Prefecture following the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. The study was targeted at three major cities in the southern coastal area of Iwate Prefecture, namely, Kamaishi, Ofunato, and Rikuzen- Takata, that were most heavily struck by the earthquake-triggered tsunami.We conducted a network analysis in geographical information system software using the coordinate data of several daily infrastructures. Temporary housing complexes within the defined service area of each infrastructure were assigned a score of 1.00. The main findings are summarized below:1) The temporary housing complexes in Rikuzen-Takata City were less accessible to infrastructures (as evidenced by the low coverage area of 1.00 scores) than the other investigated cities.2) The scores of Kamaishi City and Ofunato City were statistically similar, but complexes in Ofunato City were surrounded by slightly more infrastructures (greater coverage area of 1.00 scores) than Kamaishi City.3) We identified more than the predicted number of blank areas in the targeted areas. Thus, we consider that support services for people living in such areas are urgently required, especially in the realms of daily shopping, banking, and healthcare.