Municipal Government ICT in 3.11 Crisis: Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Crisis

Abstract

A structured field survey of ICT divisions in 13 municipalities in areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on March 11, 2011 revealed 1) lack of ICT business continuity plans (BCP), 2) importance (and lack of) a comprehensive data backup policy, 3) necessity to deal with diverse situations, 4) importance of organizing a collaborative network among governments and private sectors, 5) importance of securing power and network supply, among many other observations. Recommendations are made based on the findings on how to formulate a BCP that can deal with a diverse range of situations, and policies in creating a collaborative network of a diverse range of organizations to protect vital information infrastructure in crisis. Strong interests were shown toward the use of cloud technologies for future backup purposes.

Keywords: Japan, Earthquake, Tsunami, ICT, network, data, risk, information assurance