Law and Disaster: Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown in Japan by Shigenori Matsui Published by Routledge, 2019, 284 pp., £96.00, hardback.

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12338
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Author: Jakub Handrlica
• Date: 01 July 2020

310 

|

     BOOK REVIEWS

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12338

Law and Disaster: Ea rthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear

Meltdown in Japan by Shigenori Matsui

Published by Routledge, 2019, 284 pp., £96. 00, hardback.

On 11 March 2011, an earth quake registeri ng 9.0 on the Richter

scale hit the Tohoku region in northern Japan. The Tohoku earth-

quake produced a de vastating tsunami tha t wiped out coastal citie s

and towns, leavin g 18,561 people dead or regis tered as missing. Due

to this disaster, the c apability of the Fuku shima Nuclear Power Pl ant,

operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), was compro-

mised, causing nuclear meltdown. The hydrogen blast destroyed the

facilities, r esulting in a spre ad of radioact ive materials and se rious

nuclear contamination. The nuclear meltdown was the most severe

nuclear accident since the accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power

Plant (1986) and the only other d isaster to be given the leve l 7 event

classificati on of the International Nucl ear Event Scale.

Shigenori Mat sui's book entitl ed Law and Disaste r: Earthquake ,

Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown in Japan explores the response of th e

Japanese govern ment following the a ccident, and it s attempts to

address the leg al questions p osed by the eart hquake, tsuna mi and

nuclear meltdown. The author also identifies shortcomings of the

government's re sponse to the disa ster and what othe r States can

learn from the se events.

The book is divid ed into six chapter s. It start s with an intro-

duction to the n atural reasons of the ‘Great E ast Japan Earthquake

Disaster’ (Ch apter 1). Japan is surro unded by four tec tonic plates

(the North Am erican, the Pac ific, the Philip pine Sea and the Eura sian

plates) and thus, p ressure from the se plates and the s ubduction

occurring whe n they collide cau ses forceful trem ors. The auth or

points out that ‘ historic records compile d over the past 2,000 y ears

reveal a steady tr end of recurring a nd extremel y powerful ear th-

quakes through out the Japanes e archipelago’ (at 9). Mat sui also

pays due attenti on to other major earthqu akes that occurred in the

Japanese terr itory during t he last two centu ries, namely th e Tokai

earthquake (1854), the Kanto earthquake (1923), the Tohnankai

earthqua ke (1944) and the Hansh in Awaji earthquake (1995). Given

its experie nces with natura l disasters, Ja pan developed a ro bust

legal framewo rk in the form of statutor y laws, to address neces sary

preparedness and response to earthquakes.1 Matsui analyses this

framework in th e last section of the fir st chapter.

The author cont inues with a deta iled analysis of th e Tohoku

earthqua ke (Chapter 2). Matsui o bserves that de spite its shee r

power, the loss and dama ge brought by this earthqu ake was less se-

rious than that su ffered in the H anshin Awaji ear thquake of 1995.

The Tohoku earthquake proved that construction standards were

© 2020 John Wile y & Sons Ltd

sufficient to w ithstand even t he most powerf ul earthqu akes. Yet,

‘few anticipate d the unprecede nted loss and damage t hat would

be brought by the en suing tsunami’ (at 4 4). As a result of the com-

bined event – ear thquake and tsunami – 15 ,984 persons were found

dead with an add itional 2,577 pe rsons that were s till missing as of

September 2017.

In the next chap ter (Chapter 3), the au thor addresse s the nu-

clear meltdown t hat was caused by the Tohoku earth quake and the

resulting tsu nami. These com bined events – ear thquake, ts unami

and nuclear mel tdown – became k nown as the ‘Great E ast Japan

Earthqua ke Disaster’. Matsui briefl y presents the key statut ory laws

governing peacef ul uses of nuclear energy in Japa n,2 and identifies

some failures w hen applied to the events at hand. F irst, the author

argues that ‘t he most fundament al reason for the Fukushim a nuclear

accident is the fa ilure to anticipate that such a powe rful earthquake

would affect t he safety of the Fuk ushima Nuclear P ower Plant’ (at

113). Second, he adds tha t ‘problems could b e attributa ble to the

nuclear regulatory law for its failure to require an independent regu-

latory agenc y that regulates nuclear po wer’ (at 114).

The two subseq uent chapters address the pr ocesses and obsta-

cles leading to t he reconstruction of the Tohoku reg ion (Chapter 4)

and response of the government to the nuclear meltdown that oc-

curred in the Fuku shima Nuclear Power Plant (Cha pter 5).

Finally, the last cha pter (Chapter 6) deals with th e subsequent de-

velopments of the Japanese legislation, which were triggered by the

Great East Jap an Earthquake Disaster. Here , Matsui pays due atten-

tion to the two ame ndments that were issued i n relation to the 1961

Basic Act on Disa ster Counterme asures. In 2012, t he first amen d-

ment was approved to i ntensify the coopera tion between the centr al

government, prefectures and municipal governments. A year later,

the second amendment came into force, which integrated fundamen-

tal principl es for disaster counterme asures in Japanese legis lation.

Matsui addresses the applicability and amendments of the do-

mestic legal f ramework to the Great E ast Japan Earthqu ake Disaster

in great detail . The reviewed book will thus surel y trigger the inter-

est of readers co ncerned about how the Japan ese legislation coped

with the proble ms arising from the dis aster and what the subs equent

domestic leg islative developm ents were in this re gard. The book is

of immense benef it for those intere sted in the topic b ut not com-

manding Japane se language, which is essent ial to grasp the applica-

ble legislation . Furthermor e, the topic of the bo ok will also attr act

those interested in internation al environmental law, international

nuclear law and int ernational disaster l aw. Here, I would like to point

 1The Disaster A ssistance Ac t (1947); the Basic Act o n Disaster Cou ntermeasure s (1961);

and the Spec ial Measures Ac t on Large-sca le Earthqu ake Countermea sures (1978).

 2The Atomic Powe r Basic Act (1954); the N uclear Reacto r Regulation Ac t (1957); the

Nuclear Dis aster Specia l Measures Act (1961); and t he Nuclear Dama ge Award Act (1961).