Presenter
Dr. Mikio Ishiwatari, The University of Tokyo
Co-author(s)
Dr. Daisuke Sasaki, The University of Tokyo
Dr. Daniel Aldrich, Northeastern University
Date: Sept. 12th Session No.: RS 13 Theme: 3-7 Submission No.: O-3-7-10
Sub-theme
3. Building Resilience for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
Topic
3-7. Management of water risks induced by extreme weather and climate events
Body
Since flood risks are increasing across the world because of changing climate and socio-economic conditions, investment in reducing risks of water-related disasters is a crucial issue. Whether national and local governments should assume larger financial responsibility for risk reduction remains a controversial issue. Local governments have limited financial capacity for covering the cost of mega-disasters and need assistance from higher level governments. But national governments covering all costs may create moral hazards, discouraging local governments from investing in preventive and mitigation measures. This study identifies factors of fiscal responsibility of national and local governments for managing water-related disasters. The study examines the evolution of the processes of sharing roles and costs among national, federal, state, and local governments for relief and recovery efforts following disasters in the US and Japan. Since these two major industrialized countries have encountered a variety of natural hazards, they have developed the financial mechanisms of disaster risk reduction. In these countries, different levels of governments share the cost of disaster assistance. The assistance scales of federal and national funding vary depending on the severity of disaster and types of assistance being provided. The study examines similarity and differences of two countries and barriers for promoting relief and recovery efforts. Further, this study proposes new policies of cost-sharing for disaster management. The study draws on a recent literature review focused on financial assistance for disaster relief and recovery. Also, a series of semi-structural interviews were conducted with government officers, researchers, and affected people in Tohoku regions and Tokyo, Japan in September 2022 and in Baton Rouge and Washington DC, US in December 2022. Despite the differences between the federal system in the U.S. and the centralized system in Japan, the two countries’ national governments share common practices. Both have continuously developed legislation to expand their financial responsibilities for relief and recovery efforts as disaster consequences have increased. We argue that despite major institutional differences in Japan’s unitary and the U.S.’ federal government systems, both have expanded both the areas covered by national assistance along with the amount over time. These findings are useful for policy- and decision-makers to strengthen their approaches to reduce the risks of water-related disasters in an era of increasing extreme events because of climate change.