Why did Japan create a Reconstruction Agency after the 2011 disaster?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

earthquake damage, Honshu, Japan, 2011 — Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011 Aerial view of damage to a portion of the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan, following the offshore earthquake and resultant tsunami there on March 11, 2011.

The Japanese government established the cabinet-level Reconstruction Agency in February 2012 to serve as a centralized body to coordinate the extensive rebuilding efforts required in the Tōhoku region following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.1

The agency was created to manage the complex, long-term recovery process, which included clearing vast amounts of disaster debris, restoring transportation and services infrastructure, and overseeing the construction of new coastal defenses and housing on higher ground. It was designed to operate for a 10-year period, the timeframe projected by the government to fully restore the devastated areas.1