Japan: Community and municipal organizational characteristics of disaster plans

Survey results and publicly available data from government entities were used as secondary data to examine the completion of the three types of disaster plans (master plans, lists of people who would need assistance in a disaster, individual plans) by local public entities in Japan. The results of multivariate logistic analyses using the stepwise method (forward selection, likelihood method) show that the common factors that affected the completion of the three types of disaster plans were the number of entities given lists in normal times and the number of entities given lists in a disaster at local public entities in Japan. In other words, this finding shows the importance of establishing a good relationship with regional affiliated organizations through collaborative activities for completing these lists.

The results of this study were obtained by analyzing secondary data, therefore, there are several limitations on how they can be interpreted. There are many other variables that may affect the outcome variables of disaster-management system completion, which the authors hope future research will clarify.