Good Governance and Disaster Management: A Case Study of Temporary Housing Management in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

This paper aims to study earthquake disaster management according to good governance in terms of the responsiveness of the local government of Kumamoto Prefecture. The research instruments were focus group and in-depth interviews. The samples were divided into two main groups:  1. local government officials who were responsible for aiding the affected people for example with temporary housing and 2. affected people living in temporary housing. The study found that the local government was able to manage the earthquake disaster according to good governance with good responsiveness both in terms of temporary housing management and the healthcare of the affected people through management and cooperation with various departments, allowing the affected people to live happily in the temporary housing. In this study, a concept of good governance in terms of the responsiveness is used as a theoretical framework in order to assess appropriate earthquake relief efforts in temporary housing.