This book is a critical analysis of several of the most disaster-prone regions in Asia. Its unique focus is on the legal issues in the phase of disaster recovery, the most lengthy and difficult stage of disaster response that follows the conclusion of initial emergency stage of humanitarian aid. It brings together a group of researchers who were participant-observers in the difficult recovery phase after the mega-disasters in Asia to analyse the reality of the functions of law which often hinder, rather than foster, efforts to restore disaster victims' lives.

Yuka KANEKO is Professor of Asian comparative law at Kobe University, Japan.

Katsumi MATSUOKA is Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Iwate University, Japan.

Toshihisa TOYODA is Professor Emeritus at Kobe University, Japan.

Introduction

Part I: Typology of Asian Disaster Law: From the Developmental State Model to Forward

1. Lessons from the 2011 East Japan Earthquake: Issues of Participation and Early Recovery
2. Natural Disaster Relief in China: Experiences and Shortcomings in the 2008 Wenchuan Great Earthquake and Thereafter
3. The Shift From Healer State to Protector State in a 500-year Period: A Critical Evaluation of Painful Development Struggles in Legal and Administrative Understanding of Disaster Management Strategies in Turkey from 1509 to 2010
4. The Legal Framework of Community-Based Land Administration in Tsunami-Impacted Areas of Aceh
5. Roles of Laws Relating to Post-2004 Tsunami Management in Thailand
6. Building Back Better: Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery in the Philippines

Part II: Aid, Compensation, or Insurance?: In Sought for Effective Institutional Basis for Early Recovery

7. Legislation to Support to Disaster Victims in Japan
8. Compensation or Assistance? Law and Policy for Post-disaster Housing Recovery in the U.S and Japan
9. Lessons from the Canterbury Earthquakes: Adequacy of a first loss insurance scheme for natural disasters
10. The Divided Fate of Victims after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident
11. The Role of the Legal Services after the 2011 East Japan Great Earthquake and Tsunami

Part III: Redefining the Recovery: Law for Human-Centered Recovery vs. Build Back Better

12. Lessons Learned from a Comparison of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
13. "Promptness" in Housing Reconstruction in the Post-2011 Great East Japan Earthquake Recovery
14. The Complexities of Land Acquisition and Zoning after the Canterbury New Zealand Earthquake
15. A Comparative Approach to the Post-2001 Gujarat Earthquake Recovery in India
16. Post-Disaster Reconstruction in Taiwan
17. The Framework of International Cooperation for Disaster Management and Japan's Contribution