Digital Transformation of Disaster Response in Wajima City Following the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake: Implementation Process and Operational Conditions —A Comparative Case Analysis of Five Operations—

This study examines the implementation process and operational conditions determining the success or failure of the digital transformation of disaster response in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, following the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. The study is based on a single-case comparative analysis of five operations—post-earthquake building safety assessment, shelter management, temporary housing, facility management, and publicly funded demolition—using operational records, products, meeting materials, and development logs. These operations were compared using five dimensions: digitalization of information collection, accumulation of shareable data, situational awareness through visualization, connection to decision support, and cross-departmental coordination. Among the five operations, post-earthquake building safety assessment and temporary housing advanced most continuously, while shelter management and facility management tended to remain at the stage of visualization, and publicly funded demolition remained fragmented. The results reveal that the digital transformation of disaster response progressed step by step from data input to accumulation, visualization, and decision support, rather than emerging all at once. Self-contained operations tended to advance more smoothly, whereas cross-departmental operations required clearer coordination and decision-making mechanisms. Thus, success depended less on technology itself than on operational conditions, implying that effective implementation depends on the peacetime preparation of data items, identifiers, update responsibilities, and decision-making arrangements.