Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry

Japanese Earthquake Recovery Website Keeps Citizens Informed About Vital Programs

Summary:

EThe Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011. Immediately, all levels of government in Japan devoted themselves to recovery efforts and developed a wide range of assistance programs to support post-disaster recovery and reconstruction. The four affected prefectures (Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki) and the associated ministries and agencies developed about 500 support programs. However, because these programs were individually announced and provided by the ministries, agencies, prefectures, and cities that created them, it was difficult for disaster victims, companies, employees of local governments, and others to find the most useful information that pertained to the damage they experienced.

Thanks to using Windows Azure, preparing the test environment was easy. We were able to exchange information with each ministry and agency, and the project progressed smoothly.

–Kenji Hiramoto
Executive Advisor for CIO, Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) wanted to create a solution that would allow people to easily search through information about the support programs. “It was difficult to get the latest program information. To solve this problem and accurately provide the necessary support, we needed to build a solution that we could use to provide a wide variety of support information in a seamless manner,” says Kenji Hiramoto, Executive Advisor for CIO at METI.

To solve this issue, METI worked in cooperation with the Reconstruction Agency and others to create the Recovery and Reconstruction Support Program Database—launched in January 2012 using Windows Azure. Now citizens can use a one-stop public service to search through the assistance programs to find the support they need.

Through creating the Recovery and Reconstruction Support Program Database, METI has helped to provide information to support those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. By searching through hundreds of programs in the database, residents, companies in disaster-affected areas, contact persons in local governments, and specialists such as lawyers and notary publics who are consulted by disaster victims, can get quick and accurate answers.

The Full Story:

Facilitating Post-Earthquake Recovery
After the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, ministries, agencies, and local governments in Japan thought seriously about the kind of support that would be needed for disaster victims and developed various programs for them. However, if essential information did not reach disaster victims, they would not be able to use the programs.

Booklets with information on support programs were distributed, but it was difficult to add updated information to paper media. In many cases, there was no choice but to add the phrase, “For details, please contact your local municipal office.” It was also difficult to get the latest program information issued by prefectural governments, ministries, and agencies at the front desks of municipalities.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) decided to find a way to make the information easily available. “To solve this problem and accurately provide the necessary support, we needed to build a solution that we could use to provide a wide variety of support information in a seamless manner,” says Kenji Hiramoto, Executive Advisor for CIO at METI.

To solve the issue, METI assumed a coordinating role in establishing a database for sharing information, in cooperation with the Reconstruction Agency and other ministries and agencies. Because it was necessary to build the database quickly, in order to provide disaster victims with the information they needed as promptly as possible, METI decided to use cloud services.

Speedy Creation of a High-Quality Service 
The main objective was to make accurate information quickly and freely available to the public in a way that was easy to understand. METI began working with Meister Corporation, a member of the Microsoft Partner Network with offices in Tokyo, who provided technical assistance to help develop the database. After searching for a way to release government information to the general public in an easily transmitted format, METI decided to use Windows Azure, the Microsoft cloud service development, hosting, and management environment. By the second release, it had developed a standardized file format and provided the API so that organizations, such as private companies and nonprofits, could freely use the database.

“We chose Windows Azure primarily for fast development,” says Uichiro Nozawa, Managing Director and Division Director at Meister Corporation. “With cloud services, we can use server resources immediately without needing to set up a server environment. Since time was of the essence, Windows Azure was our best choice.”

By the end of October 2011, coordination between ministries and agencies was completed and the building of the database officially began. The first phase of publishing the website was completed only two months after the start of the project. All processes, from start to finish, were optimized to build the service with high quality in a short period of time.

“Thanks to using Windows Azure, preparing the test environment was easy. We were able to exchange information with each ministry and agency, and the project progressed smoothly,” says Hiramoto.

Connecting Disaster Victims to Assistance 
In January 2012, METI launched the Recovery and Reconstruction Support Program Database. Now site visitors to the database can find the disaster recovery support information they need in one place.

The database received much praise in a survey conducted immediately after the provision of the service. Approximately 90 percent of the respondents answered, “It is useful” (Figure 1).

Figure 1. When visitors go to the METI database powered by Windows Azure, they can search nearly 500 programs to find information about services available to those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

“We launched the service by dividing it into two phases: the first release focused on providing a rich search function. The second release in February 2012 provided the API. We received comments that ‘It was more useful than expected’ even with the first release. Even so, we have many things to work on to improve the service,” says Hiramoto.

Real Impact on Disaster Recovery 
By launching the Recovery and Reconstruction Support Program Database, METI has helped support easy access to information critical to disaster recovery and enhanced the ability of administrative agencies to bring relief to those affected by the earthquake.

Time is of the essence in bringing relief to disaster victims. By choosing Windows Azure, METI was able to build the database in a short period of time, because it was able to immediately access server resources and utilize the development skills its staff already possessed. “It is difficult to predict how much traffic there will be for this kind of service at any point in time. We felt secure in providing the service in the cloud because we have the ability to scale up or down, depending on the number of site visitors,” says Hiramoto.

METI plans to continue to improve the database and looks forward to a third release by the end of 2012. In the third release, METI plans to include the capability to produce brochures in PDF format for easy accessibility by visitors to the site.

Source:

Microsoft Case Study: Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry

Partner(s): Meister Corporation