The Tohoku disasters: Chief lessons concerning the post disaster humanitarian logistics response and policy implications

This paper describes the findings of the research conducted by the authors on the humanitarian logistic efforts after the cascading disasters that impacted the Tohoku region after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11th, 2011. Using a combination of in depth interviews with participants in the relief efforts and meta analyses of news accounts, the authors identified lessons learned by the participants, and the corresponding policy implications and suggestions for improvement of future response efforts.