The official and unofficial memorial ceremonies marking one year since the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Tohoku region of Japan, killing some 16,000 people, are now past. The question remains though: Will Japan's politicians and bureaucrats come together and heed a simple lesson that other policymakers faced with massive rebuilding efforts have learned before — namely, that bigger is not always better on the road to recovery?
Certainly, no government, business or community leader has all the right answers. In the United States, the slow pace in rebuilding New Orleans and replacing damaged infrastructure along the Gulf Coast immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, causing some $85 billion in damages, is a case in point. So, too, was the tortured path forward to begin construction at the Ground Zero site in New York following the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center complex and killed thousands more than a decade ago.
Mistakes and missteps will be made in the elusive goal of rebuilding better. Reconstruction and rehabilitation of damaged or destroyed social, residential and industrial infrastructure is often done amid continuing human tragedy, political infighting and cold economic realities that intrude upon an initial spirit of cooperation and solidarity. This is true everywhere, from the poorest to the richest nations.