While disasters occur relatively frequently almost none are of a scale as serious or complex as the triple disaster that devastated coastal regions of Tohoku, Japan. How can a region recover from a disaster as horrific as that triggered by the earthquake, tsunami and radioactive contamination linked to the explosions and reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant? Recovery and reconstruction in cases of large-scale disasters involves multiple activities which extend over long periods of time. This article focuses on one aspect of this -- the efforts that are being made to bring about deeper transformative changes that aim to make the region in and around Fukushima both more sustainable and resilient. The region is betting on becoming a leader of global significance in several areas: tsunami disaster management and recovery, nuclear disaster recovery know-how (technological, scientific, and social), renewable energy development, and hydrogen fuels and battery storage technologies. This effort is made difficult, however, by many evacuees’ reluctance to return to the region and the complex challenges associated with dealing with the aftermath of the nuclear accident.

尽管灾难发生的频率相对较高，但几乎没有任何一场灾难比日本东北沿海地区遭受的三重灾难严重或复杂。福岛第一核电站的爆炸，反应堆崩溃与地震，海啸和放射性污染引发的灾难一样，该地区如何从灾难中恢复？大规模灾难中的恢复和重建涉及许多活动，这些活动会持续很长时间。本文着眼于这一方面-为实现更深刻的变革而做出的努力，这些变革旨在使福岛及其周边地区更加可持续和具有韧性。该地区希望在以下几个领域成为具有全球重要性的领导者：海啸灾难管理和恢复，核灾难恢复专业知识（技术，科学和社会知识），可再生能源开发以及氢燃料和电池存储技术。但是，由于许多撤离者不愿返回该地区以及与应对核事故后果相关的复杂挑战，使这项工作变得困难。