The Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster and Population Changes A population geography of the Tohoku Region, Japan

The book aims to clarify from a demographic and geographical perspective how population trends of the Tohoku Region were changed as a result of the GEJED. The author shows how different the 2011 GEJED was from past disasters in this region with regard to the impacts on population change in the Tohoku Region. He explains how the recent disaster is different from past disasters, based on the theories of the first and second demographic transitions. He also clarifies the causality between the extent of housing damage and mortality through geographical analysis. Furthermore, this book shows how migration patterns were changed before and after the GEJED, and it identifies the differences between the areas affected by the tsunami and by the nuclear power plant accident.

Investigating the GEJED as a case study, the book presents a method to analyze the relationship between natural disasters and population change. This book is especially useful for researchers inthe fields of disaster, environment, and population to better understand the relationship between the environment and population.

Introduction: Demography of Natural Disasters.- Population Changes and Natural Disasters in the Tohoku Region since the Latter Half of the 19th Century.- Demographic Changes in the Tohoku Region due to the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster.- Changes in Migration Patterns in the Tohoku Region due to the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster.- Changes in Population Trends in the Tohoku Region due to the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster.- Epilogue.

Takashi Abe was born in 1947, Akita, Japan. Takashi Abe did B.A. (Geography) at Faculty of Science, Tohoku University (1969), Master of Science (Geography) at Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University (1971). Takashi Abe is Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Professor at Miyagi Gakuin Women’s College and Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University, Sendai, Japan (1975–2002).

Takashi Abe is Professor Emeritus at Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University (2002), Professor at Japan Women’s University, Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Kawasaki, Japan (2002–2015), Professor Emeritus at Japan Women’s University (2015), and Doctor of Science at Tohoku University (2022).