Building Disaster Resilient Cities and Communities II

[049] Faster Recovery of SMEs from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Jin LI, Fei ZHOU

Keywords:faster recovery, temporary facility, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), business continuity, the Great East Japan Earthquake2011

Faster recovery of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is essential in areas impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11th March 2011. Faster recovery reduces loss, facilitates livelihoods, supports local needs, stimulates local economy, and sustains small businesses. However, the extent of devastation of commercial facilities, buildings, and shopping districts hindered SMEs to recover faster. To enhance speed of recovery, the Government mandated the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation of Japan (SMRJ) to build temporary facilities, in nearby districts so that SMEs can restart businesses. SMEs can utilize the temporary facility for maximum of five years while the permanent facilities (usually at the original location) are being reconstructed. The objectives of this study are twofold. One is to clarify the SMRJ’s process for constructing temporary commercial facilities by the impacts to SMEs in Miyagi Prefecture. It uses grid-square statistical method to compare the number of entries and exits of enterprises before and after the 2011 Earthquake. Another is to investigate why the SMEs in the Yuriage Port Morning Market (YPMM) can rapidly reconstruct their businesses at its original and permanent location with only short-term stay at the temporary facilities. To understand this, the interview survey was conducted with the earliest temporary shopping district to be converted to permanent. This study shows that while the government’s SMRJ support program can enhance the speed of recovery by building temporary facilities, SMEs leadership and concrete actions can help ensure faster recovery and business continuity.