In Japan, municipalities are mandated to produce hazard maps for floods, storm surges, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, stagnant water, and landslides to which the municipality may be exposed. By combining exposure data with satellite images and aerial photographs, post-event damage assessments can be carried out with reasonable accuracy. Japan's experience with the disaster of March 2011 demonstrates that having exhaustive data on exposure expedites the damage assessment process, thereby reducing the time required for compensation payments and insurance payouts. Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and tsunami, information on the damage caused by the disaster was collected rapidly and shared among responding agencies using a variety of top-down and bottom-up tools, including remotely sensed data, public and private datasets, and online tools such as the Ushahidi-based sinsai.info web site. The data-collection and dissemination effort underpinned assistance to the affected population, timely allocation of resources to areas in need, and effective reconstruction planning. This report gives findings
lessons
and recommendations for developing countries.