In normal times, we tend to assume that social infrastructure, such as transportation, water, sewage, electricity, gas, and telecommunication, is naturally available like air. Once a large-scale disaster strikes, however, we become aware that whether such social infrastructure will continue to work or not is critical to our lives. Financial and settlement systems are also part of the social infrastructure.
Facing a large-scale disaster, financial institutions play various roles as social infrastructure over time -- from the recovery phase to the reconstruction phase, for example (Chart 3). In the next part, I will first elaborate on the expected roles of financial institutions shortly after a disaster strikes. Moreover, disaster management can be considered as a cycle of actions.