The 3rd International Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Mitigation 2016 (ICEEDM-III 2016)

The role of construction industry in post disaster recovery

– Comparative study between Indonesia and Japan –
Masamitsu Onishia,*, Krishna S Pribadib
a
Associate Professor, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan
b
Professor, Institute of Technology Bandung, Jl. Ganesha No.10, Jawa Barat, Indonesia

Abstract
The availability of infrastructure facilities are prerequisite for emergency treatments as well as economic recovery in the
post disaster period. Therefore, the swiftness of post disaster recovery regarding the infrastructure facilities reduces the
potential damage of disaster and hence, improves the national resilience. The primary resources necessary for the
physical recovery of infrastructure facilities are owned by the construction industry. This implies that the establishment
of institutions enabling the effective and efficient mobilization of the resources owned by construction industry is one of
the key policies for the swift recovery in the post disaster period. This study is conducting a primary investigation
regarding the role of construction industry in post disaster recovery process and identifying the mechanism how activities
of stakeholders in the construction industry is organized. We derive possible causes which enable the mobilization of
resources of construction industry for the swift post-disaster recovery by analyzing the empirical data collected through
publicized reports in Japan and In Indonesia.
Keywords: road clearance works; framework; trust

1. INTRODUCTION

The availability of road network is a prerequisite for the emergency rescue of victims and injured people, logistics for
relief goods and the evacuation of suffered people after the occurrence of catastrophic earthquake. Road clearance work
is the first task for the post-disaster process. Road clearance works include the elimination of road obstacles and the
temporal treatment of flattering bumps [1]. The swift response for road clearance contributes to mitigating the potential
damages due to earthquakes.
Since the swift response for eliminating road obstacles needs the mobilization of variety of resources in sudden, ad hoc
manner will lead to the coordination failure of resources input and hence result in the managerial inefficiency. Therefore,
a well-prepared plan of managing a project of road clearance works is necessary in advance of the occurrence of
earthquake. This paper is interested in the enablers of swift response for road clearance. This study is conducting a
primary investigation regarding the role of construction industry in post disaster recovery process and identifying the
mechanism how activities of stakeholders in the construction industry is organized. We derive possible causes which

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-774-38-4635; Fax.: +81-774-31-8294.
E-mail address: onishi.masamitsu.7e@kyoto-u.ac.jp
enable the mobilization of resources of construction industry for the swift post-disaster recovery by analyzing the
empirical data collected through publicized reports in Japan and In Indonesia.
This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews relevant policies for eliminating road obstacles and temporally
treatment of damaged roads in Japan. Section 3 argues the role of construction industry in post-disaster recovery process
and implementation method as well as enablers of it by comparing the case of Japan and of Indonesia. Section 4
concludes the paper and refers remaining issues for the future study.

2. RELEVANT POLICIES AND ACTIONS IN JAPAN

Actions for enabling the swift road clearance after disaster have been observed recently in Japan at the various levels
of public sector with the involvement of private sector. This section reviews the relevant policies and actions in Japan.

2.1. Legislation for Removal of Vehicles Left on Roads

A variety of physical facilities exists on and along roads. Those physical facilities are owned by either of public entity
or private entity. Road obstacles after earthquake may include natural materials such as soils and trees, rubbles which
consist of residential and commercial buildings, public facilities such as utility poles, and vehicles left on roads.
Actually, a considerable number of vehicles will be expected to be left on roads just after earthquake particularly in
metropolitan areas since the road transportation will be completely interrupted and drivers are likely to leave their
vehicles for evacuation. Regarding natural materials and public facilities, the road administrator as a public entity has
exclusive right to remove them. However, since the vehicles on roads are basically owned by private entities, the road
administrator has not legal right to remove them without permission of the owners of them.
In consideration of the potential loss due to vehicles left on roads, the government of Japan has revised the Basic Act
on Disaster Control Measures has been revised in 2014 in order to endow the road administrator the legal right to remove
vehicles on roads after disaster. If a driver stays at the vehicle, the road administrator can order them to move to some
place at which the vehicle will not hinder transportation flow. If driver has left from the vehicle, the road administrator
can remove it. The law even allows the road administrator damage the vehicle if necessary and the owner will be
compensated for the damage afterwards.
In responds to the revision of the Act, Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transportation, hereinafter denoted as
„MLIT‟, has published a guideline for the operation of removing left vehicles on roads after disasters. Disasters may not
be necessary earthquake, but include heavy snow for example.
To enable the removal of vehicles roads, the director general of Regional Development Bureau designates road
sections or areas which needs the removal of vehicles that causes serious traffic interruption. It should be noted that the
expressway network in Japan has been operated by semi-privatized companies. The authority of road administration for
the expressway network is delegated to the government-owned companies. Therefore, the Regional Development Bureau
and National Highway Office of MLIT and the semi-privatized company will closely cooperate in sharing information
and coordination of tasks for road clearance works.

2.2. Plan for Managing Road Clearance Works

Recently, more prefectural governments and Regional Development Bureaus of MLIT are building plans for
managing road clearance works. For example, Kanto Regional Development Bureau has published a plan of road
clearance works prepared for earthquake that directly hit the Tokyo metropolitan area. The prefectural governments of
which territories cover coastal regions are most likely to prepare plans for managing road clearance works preparing for
the case of catastrophe earthquake accompanied by Tsunami disaster. For example, the prefectural government of Kochi
and Ehime have published the plans assuming the scenario of Nankai-Tonankai earthquake of which magnitude is
estimated to be 9 approximately. The earthquake will bring about tsunami that hits extremely large area along the
southern coast of Japan Islands within several decades with the high possibility. Other than these two prefectures, a
significant number of plans for road clearance has been published at the level of prefecture as well as groups of
municipalities.
A plan for managing road clearance works is generally structured as follows:
1) Scenario of disaster – A plan needs an expected damage based on an assumption scenario of disaster
 Main
highway
Ocean

Coastal Areas
Fig. 1. Kushinoha mission in Great East Japan Earthquake 2011

2) Mission – the performance targets of road clearance works

3) Selected road sections – Road sections selected to attain the performance targets
4) Governance – the stakeholders to be involved and the organizational relationship among them
5) Implementation – the methods to complete the mission such as what tasks and actions to do, by whom and when,
how…
Any reasonable plan for action needs an assumption of scenario of disaster. Plans of road clearance works developed
in Japan recently mostly assumes a catastrophic earthquake and sequential caused tsunami expected in Pacific Ocean.
A plan generally defines the target of performance of road clearance works. As is mentioned in Section 2, the public
takes „the wall of 72 hours‟ after the occurrence of disaster for granted. Therefore, the performance target is set as „all
road sections necessary for humanitarian logistics, i.e. transport for rescue and transport of relief goods are cleared within
72 hours‟. For example, the plan of road clearance works in Izu Peninsula district in Shizuoka Prefecture requires that all
road routes connecting to Tomei and Shin-Tomei expressway, main highways reaching to Tokyo, should be cleared
within 3days.
Road sections which are subject to road clearance works are selected in advance of disaster. In Japan, the national
government designates routes for emergency transportation after disaster called as „emergency transportation route‟.
Selected road sections include designated emergency transportation route as well as all routes lead to areas expected be
damaged due to the potential disaster. Of course, some sections might not be feasible to make a temporal treatment
within 3 days due to serious damage. In that case, alternative routes will be selected for road clearance works.
In Japan, a strategy of selecting road sections for road clearance employed in the case of Great East Japan Earthquake
in 2011 has been appraised by the public which is called “Kushinoha mission”. Kushinoha means the teeth of comb in
Japanese since the shape of routes for road clearance to reach the coastal regions from the inland main expressway looks
like the teeth of comb as shown in Fig. 1.
Governance concerns the stakeholders to be involved in road clearance works and the organizational structure among
them which defines the authoritative relationship and the responsible tasks for each stakeholder.
Implementation concerns the actual work flow and protocol of road clearance works. The general flow of road
clearance works is summarized as follows:
 Establishing communication means among the stakeholders
 Collecting the information of the damage of road network particularly of emergency transportation route by
patrolling
 Sharing the collected information among stakeholders
  Determining road sections for road clearance works
 Conducting road clearance works
 Monitoring
Communication means are the most fundamental infrastructure for coordinating road clearance works. For example in
the case of Great East Japan Earthquake, Regional Development Bureau of MLIT sent their expert staffs as liaisons of
relevant prefectural governments for the purpose of smooth communication among stakeholders.
The primary source of information is the patrol conducted by local contractors. The contactors report the information
on the damage of roads. The public sectors and the association of contractors usually forms an agreement for cooperation
in road clearance works. Contractors may be in agreement with multiple public organizations. In that case, they shall
patrol, giving the priority to emergency transportation routes.

3. MOBILIZING CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS IN POST-DISASTER RECOVERY

3.1. The Role of Construction Contractors

Since the transport infrastructure is limited immediately after catastrophic disaster, the primary source of work forces
for civil engineering works are inevitably local contractors. Of course the primary contribution of contractors is to supply
heavy equipment and labor forces for road clearance works. However, contribution of contractor are not limited in
physical one, but it can be knowledge. Since local contractors have not only professional of civil engineering but also
local circumstances and geographical conditions. The possible contributions by contractors are 1) collecting the
information concerning the damage of roads by patrolling, 2) eliminating the obstacles on roads and 3) flattering bumps.
Under the normal state, contractors undertake a project upon the agreement of construction contract with the
procurement authority to guarantee the payment as a compensation. However, under the emergency state such as just
after the occurrence of disaster, the procurement authority does not have enough time to prepare documents and
implementing a competitive bidding. This means that contractors cannot help undertaking road clearance works without
contracting with the procurement authority if they would contribute to road clearance after disaster. Therefore, a
framework called „Kyoutei‟ in Japanese is prepared between the relevant governmental bodies and the association of
local contractors. Governmental bodies include the Regional Development Bureau of MLIT and the prefectural
government. Association of local contractors is that of prefecture for example.
Compared to the practice in the developing countries, such as in Indonesia, the practice of Kyoutei in Japan is very
useful to speed up the response action to put back the affected roads in operation. In Indonesia, there is no such practice
of setting up of a framework between relevant government bodies and association of local contractors, prior to disasters,
even in earthquake and tsunami or landslide prone areas. This kind of set up should be based on solid legal basis such as
a local ordinance or even national government regulation. Without this framework, construction contractors and also
material and equipment suppliers cannot be involved in the assessment of the damages, which actually could improve the
cost estimation process.
The Indonesian government regulation on procurement (No 70 Year 2012) stipulates that for the purpose of post
disaster emergency response, government agencies (national or local level) may directly appoint contractors to conduct
emergency recovery works, including road clearing. It is a matter of course that usually available contractors in the
proximity of the damaged areas are selected, in particular those who are working on current roadwork projects before the
disaster occurs. The selected contractors should have adequate financial as well as technical capacity to conduct the
emergency work, as in most cases, they will only be paid after the work is fully completed. Payment could be arranged as
at-cost (reimbursable) or unit price basis. Care should be taken in defining unit prices of works, as in extraordinary
emergency situation, unit cost sometimes soaring up due to logistical problem as well as scarcity of material or
equipment and workers. In many cases, such as the case of 2004 Great Indian Ocean Tsunami in Aceh, only large state
owned construction companies can be mobilized, due to the capacity requirement. Nevertheless, these large contractors
may then employ smaller scale local contractors as sub-contractors to do some specific works. This situation is actually
contributing to the economic recovery of the affected region by providing employment opportunities to local companies
and workers.
3.2. Framework for Road Clearance Works

In Japan, a framework called „Kyoutei‟ is formed between the relevant governmental bodies and the association of
local contractors. This framework stipulates the responsibility of governmental bodies and local contractors for carrying
out road clearance works immediately after disaster.
Under the civil law system in Japan, contract for construction works is applicable to the type of contracting „Uke-oi‟
under which the contractor is legally responsible for the completion of prescribed work. Therefore, construction
contracting in Japan requires the specification of work in advance of contracting in nature. However, prescribing the
specification of work is practically not feasible for road clearance works.
Contract is an agreement which is enforced by the court. Incompliance of contract means breach of contract and the
damaged party has a right to claim remedy. However, the framework, in Japanese called as „Kyoutei‟ is not legally
enforceable [2]. Therefore, Kyoutei, framework is a kind of gentleman‟s agreement without the background of court‟s
enforcement [3].
Major items included in a framework for road clearance works are shown as follows:
 Target routes – predetermined routes for road clearance works
 The scope of work – collecting the information of damage on target routes for road clearance, conducting works
for eliminating obstacles and flattering bumps, and works as needed basis
 The procedure – the road administrator orders for contractor to carry out the work by document in principle.
However, the order can be in oral if preparing document is difficult. The responsible route for each contractor
is allocated in advance. If a contractor lose communications means with the governmental bodies, he or she
shall start the work according to the predetermined allocation of responsible routes.
 Preparation at ordinary time – Ensuring the communication means and monitoring the available resources. It
shall be reported to the governmental bodies every year.
 Compensation – It is impossible to state the actual price of work. Therefore it just mentions as „the work shall
be compensated.‟

3.3. Enabler of Framework

As is mentioned earlier, a framework is not legally enforceable. Therefore, the promise in a framework might be
broken. But it does not mean that agreeing on a framework between governmental bodies and the association of
contractors is useless. A framework does not intend to bind parties to a contract by the authoritative power of court.
Rather, a framework intend to provide a focal point on how each stakeholder behaves in a strategic situation where
coordination of decision making is necessary.
The road clearance work undertaken by local contractors is not volunteer and it is mentioned in a framework in
general. However, a framework does not provide any concrete price. Therefore, it is possible for both parties that the
counterparty does not comply the framework. However, if there is trust concerning the following items between the
public bodies and contractors, a framework will be effective. Firstly, contractors are supposed to believe that the public
bodies will pay the reasonable price later on even if there is no explicit contracting at the commencement of work. In
addition, the public bodies are also supposed to believe that they are believed by the contractors concerning the intention
to pay reasonably. In other words, there shall be mutual belief between the public bodies and the contractors concerning
the certainty of payment. Secondly, the public bodies are supposed to belief that contractors will not hold up them. The
contractors could be opportunistic so that they claim aggressive price to the public bodies. If the public bodies say no for
the offered aggressive price, the contractors refuse to carry out road clearance works. The effective framework requires
the mutual trust so that the both parties will not behave opportunistically.

3.4. Challenges

There are some challenges to ensure the swiftness of road clearance works in Japan. Firstly, the number of
construction companies are decreasing as the economic downturn gets significant particularly in rural regions. The
decreasing number of construction companies means the less availability of work forces for road clearance works and
hence the less resilience against disaster. Although the problem of less available contractors for post disaster recovery
has been recognized, there does not seem to be reasonable and effective policy in Japan so far. Secondly, a framework
among contractors are also needed for more effective road clearance works. Minagawa et al. [4] investigates the
effectiveness of cross-regional cooperation to share heavy equipment. It claims that a cross-regional cooperation scheme
can decrease the necessary time for road clearance works by 92% compared the without-case based on the case of
expected damage due to Tokai Earthquake, a catastrophic earthquake on Shizuoka prefecture. To realize such a cross-
regional cooperation for heavy equipment mobilization, local contractors in extensive regions must agree on some
framework which enables it.

4. CONCLUSION

This paper reviewed the implementation system of road clearance works after disaster in Japan to investigate the
mechanism which enables mobilizing local contractors effectively for road clearance works. Local contractors provides
primary resources such as information on the damage, local knowledge and work forces which are necessary for road
clearance works. We have pointed out that implementing such a system requires mutual trust between the public bodies
and the contractors. Trust is supported by the public bodies‟ intention to pay for the contractors after the work and the
contractors‟ attitude not to behave opportunistically. Some challenges remain to ensure the swiftness of road clearance
works such as the less availability of contractors and establishing a framework that enables cross-regional cooperation
for mobilizing heavy equipment. However, such Kyoutei system can be replicated with some adaptation in other
countries such as in Indonesia, to improve the post disaster emergency response performance, in particular at the local
level.

REFERENCES

[1] Shimomoto, M., “Road clearance work plan to prepare for catastrophic disaster (Daikibo saigai ni sonaeru douro
keikai keikaku)”, Civil Engineering Consultant, 262, 2014. (In Japanese)
[2] Research Group for Local Government System (Chihoujichiseido-kenkyukai), “Guidance for Local Public Finance
Practice (Chihou zaimu jitsumu youtei)”, Gyosei, 1971. (In Japanese)
[3] Morizane, K., “The study on disaster framework for catastrophic disaster”, Master thesis at Kochi Institute of
Technology, 2013. (In Japanese)
[4] Minagawa, M., Watanabe, Y. and Kuwayanagi, M., “Effectiveness of area cooperation for removal of debris caused
by severe earthquake”, Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. F4, 68(4), 2012, pp. I_57, I_67. (In
Japanese)