Posted on July 4, 2017
By Janet Kirkton, CAT
Reclamation has a very specific meaning for the sediment management industry. But beyond moving earth and creating land masses, reclamation can have a profound impact on the communities where the work is done. Rikuzentakata, Japan, is a prime example of what can happen when reclamation is truly integrated into the vision of the community.
Following the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, a massive tsunami nearly decimated the coastal community of Rikuzentakata, Japan. During the height of the tsunami, waves and storm surge exceeded 13 meters in the sections closest to the sea, destroying a floodplain forest of 70,000 pines and nearly 80% of the city’s infrastructure. The tsunami also claimed about 1,700 lives and dramatically impacted the ability of the city’s farmers and fishermen to generate revenue and sustain the local economy.
Although the tragedy is well documented, perhaps most notable about this event isn’t what was lost, but what survived. For amid the terrible wreckage and devastation of the storm, a single pine stood alone. Drawing tremendous hope and inspiration from this pine tree, the city of Rikuzentakata and its residents have become an international symbol of endurance and resiliency.
By definition, reclamation is the process of claiming something back or of reasserting a right to exist. Since 2011, Rikuzentakata has been doing exactly that. Under the leadership and direction of its mayor, Mr. Futoshi Toba, the city itself is being reclaimed. To date, the environment is being restored and renewed, which in turn is rejuvenating the local economy and giving its residents continued hope for the future.
Reclamation projects typically contribute to the economic, environmental, and cultural development of the community they serve, which from a sustainability perspective is pretty awesome. When you consider what is happening within in Rikuzentakata, the following core concepts seem to apply – often in intersecting ways.
Hope & Vitality
The Takata Matsubara was originally planted during the Edo Era (1603 to 1868) as a storm surge barrier to protect the village and to limit the salt spray impacting inland agricultural fields. At the time of the tsunami, the Matsubara had 70,000 trees within it and had protected Rikuzentakata for over 300 years. But only one tree from the entire forest survived the tsunami. Referred to as the Miracle Pine, it has been preserved and made into a memorial of the disaster. A silhouette of the tree also serves as a symbol for the city.
Busloads of tourists come daily to see this tree and eventually an entire forest will be recreated either from pine cones that had been previously collected or from DNA that was reclaimed from the Miracle Pine before it died.
The Miracle Pine and now this nursery full of saplings are excellent examples of Hope and Vitality, but also reflect the strength and character of the residents of Rikuzentakata – whose roots go back centuries, literally. This is why it is so culturally significant to reclaim the Takata Matsubara.
Confidence & Opportunity
Confidence and Opportunity are most reflected in the rebuilding strategy that Rikuzentakata chose to undertake. While many of the surrounding municipalities got right to work restoring their towns to how they were before the disaster, Rikuzentakata opted to take this once in a millennium opportunity to start over from ground zero and build a totally new, modern town, which is easier to live in.
Currently, many neighboring towns are finished with reconstruction and the towns look just like they did before the tsunami. On the other hand, Rikuzentakata is just getting started and it looks like a construction zone. However, five to ten years down the road and beyond, the residents of Rikuzentakata will be so glad that their town chose the more difficult and lengthy path.
Endurance & Resiliency
The reclamation efforts ARE the future of the city. It was so totally destroyed that there is no city without reclamation. For generations, the residents of Rikuzentakata have primarily been farmers and fisherman. In March 2011, they pretty much lost everything. Rather than just letting the city die, they have demonstrated endurance and resiliency to find new and innovative ways to jumpstart the economy, remediate the environment, and create a renewed way of life. Here are just a few examples:
•Agriculture: Most of the fields were either washed away by the tsunami or covered in salt water – leaving them highly degraded and/or unusable to grow rice. Essentially a blank canvas, many ideas for new crops have emerged: tomatoes, sweet corn, and sunflowers to name just a few. Although sunflowers do not produce food per se, they remind the residents to be happy.
•Aqua Farming: Rikuzentakata raises scallops, oysters, seaweed, and shellfish – all of which were dramatically impacted by the tsunami itself, changes in salinity, and the resulting debris that sank into the ocean just off shore. Committed to the future of aqua farming, farming companies started anew and bravely endured until the first harvest – 3 years later.
•Agritourism: Perhaps the most innovative was the origination of the Marugoto Rikuzentakata Project. This agritourism project offers guests the opportunity to work together with local farmers, fishermen, or craftsman with the hope that they learn more about the city and its residents.
Strength & Sanctuary
Using aggregate reclaimed from the local area, the new 12.5 meter sea wall makes it impossible to see the ocean from sea level. It’s a sad thing, to give up, forever, a view of the ocean, but it’s one of the many sacrifices Rikuzentakata has decided to make for the safety and peace of mind of those living there, now and well into the future.
Despite the strength and perceived sanctuary the sea wall offers the city, reclamation efforts optimally seek to balance traditional and nature-based infrastructure solutions with the local ecosystem. The combination of the sea wall and the Matsubara will be a good example of this.
The lesson to be learned from Rikuzentakata is that no matter how we define reclamation, the results are so much more important than the quantity of earth that was moved. Reclamation can be applied to many things: recovering an economy after a natural disaster, creating sanctuary from a storm, restoring a way of life for a coastal community, preserving a single tree or regenerating an entire forest of trees. It can also be all of these things at once, within a singular vision for a beautiful city. Rikuzentakata is crafting a legacy we can all be proud of.
Source: CAT
