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. In the stage of disaster recovery, the law decides the fate of reconstruction for the individual houses and livelihoods of the disaster-affected people and sets the limit of governmental support for them during the lengthy period of suspension of normal living until full recovery is obtained. Researchers who were participant-observers in the difficult recovery phase after the mega-disasters in Asia analyse the reality of the functions of law which often hinder, rather than foster, efforts to restore disaster victims' lives. The book collects research conducted with an emphasis on empirical approaches to legal sociology, including direct interviews with people affected by the disaster. It offers a holistic approach beyond the traditional sectionalism of legal studies by starting with a historical review and incorporating both spheres of public law and private law, in order to obtain a new perspective that can concurrently achieve disaster risk reductions and human-centered recoveries.

With particular emphasis on the unexplored area of law in the post-disaster recovery phase, this book will attract the attention of students and scholars of disaster studies, legal studies, Asian studies, as well as those who work in the practice of disaster management.

Introduction

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

2. Yuka Kaneko, Lessons from the 2011 East Japan Earthquake: Issues of Participation and Early Recovery
4. Li Weihai Natural Disaster Relief in China: Experiences and Shortcomings in the 2008 Wenchuan Great Earthquake and Thereafter
6. A Tolga Ozden and Burcak Erkan, 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
8. Taqwaddin Husin and Teuku Alvisyahrin The Legal Framework of Community-Based Land Administration in Tsunami-Impacted Areas of Aceh
10. Kanongnij Sribuaiam Roles of Laws Relating to Post-2004 Tsunami Management in Thailand
12. Ebinezer Florano Joe-Mar S. Perez and Abel Pyneiro Building Back Better: Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery in the Philippines

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

14. Eichi Yamazaki Legislation to Support to Disaster Victims in Japan
16. Tamiyo Kondo Compensation or Assistance ? Law and Policy for Post-disaster Housing Recovery in the U.S and Japan
18. Michael White Lessons from the Canterbury Earthquakes: Adequacy of a first loss insurance scheme for natural disasters
20. Wakana Takahashi The Divided Fate of Victims after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident
22. Takayuki Ii The Role of the Legal Services after the 2011 East Japan Great Earthquake and Tsunami

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

24. Yuichi Honjyo Lessons Learned from a Comparison of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake
26. Katsumi Matsuoka "Promptness" in Housing Reconstruction in the Post-2011 Great East Japan Earthquake Recovery
28. Elizabeth Toomy The Complexities of Land Acquisition and Zoning after the Canterbury New Zealand Earthquake
30. Akihiko Hokugo A Comparative Approach to the Post-2001 Gujarat Earthquake Recovery in India
32. Yung-Fang Chen Post-Disaster Reconstruction in Taiwan
34. Toshihisa Toyoda The Framework of International Cooperation for Disaster Management and Japan's Contribution