Principal Investigator Shun Kanda
Co-investigators Richard Samuels , James Wescoat
Project Website http://japan3-11.mit.edu/
The MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative is MIT’s response to the March 2011 triple disaster in Japan. This Initiative, established by the MIT-Japan Program at the Center for International Studies, will provide a mechanism for faculty and student exchange between MIT and universities in the Tohoku region for the study and implementation of disaster-resilient planning.
MIT President Susan Hockfield challenged us to take an “MIT-like initiative” to assist our Japanese colleagues and expects that the Initiative “will do something impactful and important in helping the country recover from the 3/11 catastrophes.”
Beginning in Summer 2011, Tané Valley in Shiga Prefecture will be the base of operations for the MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative: Disaster-Resilient Planning, Design & Reconstruction from the MIT Japan Program at the MIT Center for International Studies.
Beginning in June 2011, the Initiative team has been working with leaders of local governments and residents, NGO affiliates and consulting professionals to map out a 5-year plan of action for short- and long-term paths to recovery. Minami Sanriku, one of the areas hardest hit by the quake and tsunami, will be the first focus of this work. The Minami Sanriku project will combine physical and societal reconstruction, initially focusing on designing and building a much-needed community center, which will serve residents living in temporary housing while also memorializing the victims of the disaster and symbolizing the revitalization of the community as a whole.
Along with the design and construction of this center, the Initiative will hold a series of related workshops to explore the longer-term issues related to permanent reconstruction, including addressing questions of disaster-resilience and ecological sustainability. Lessons learned in the aftermath of the disaster and resulting exchanges will help create a new educational model to serve as a model for disaster preparedness and an ecological prototype promoting the resurgence of regional communities across the valleys and sea-coasts of Japan.