Japan to speed up housing for evacuees..[ 2248 ]

Pressure on to speed up construction of temporary housing for evacuees

(Mainichi Japan) April 20, 2011

A room of a temporary housing facility in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, is pictured on April 3. (Mainichi )
Over one month has already passed since the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, yet people continue to live in shelters. Problems constructing temporary housing and slow progress in moving evacuees to public housing outside their hometowns are to blame for this situation.
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Prolonged life in shelters, where privacy and sanitation problems are rampant, threatens the wellbeing of evacuated residents who are trying to stay healthy and maintain a decent standard of living. 
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The government should demonstrate its resolve to prevent people from having to spend a long time in shelters, and exhaust every possible means to spur the construction of temporary housing.
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Some 140,000 people hit by the tsunami and nuclear crisis continue to live in shelters. With nothing more than cardboard barriers to separate families living in gymnasiums, it is impossible to retain privacy, putting strain on evacuees. Furthermore, there are many elderly people at shelters and deterioration in their living environments has aggravated their illnesses, in some cases resulting in death from pneumonia -- an issue of increasing concern.
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The government says it plans to construct 70,000 temporary homes, adding the cost to the fiscal budget. But more than one month after the disaster, there has been little progress, with work on fewer than 9,000 homes started. One reason is that it has been difficult to find appropriate sites on high ground that evaded the March 11 disaster. Also hampering efforts is the scarcity of materials.

In this April 12, 2011 file photo, a man walks a path between spaces divided by corrugated boxes for each family at the evacuation center at the Big Palette Fukushima sports arena in Koriyama, Japan, a month after an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan's northeastern coast. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
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House of Representatives member Tadayoshi Nagashima, who was mayor of Yamakoshi during the 2004 Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake and oversaw evacuations in the village, has warned that life in shelters should not continue for more than two months. 
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The current pace of temporary housing construction, with just 4,500 homes due to be completed by the first week of next month, is too slow. Government officials must be more aware that this is a battle against time.
The government must cooperate with local bodies and do all it can to secure land, including that in neighboring areas. Using public funds to lease private land is one option. To secure materials, it must also boost production and speed up imports.
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After all this, if it is still impossible to construct temporary housing in time, then public housing and accommodation provided by other public bodies should be put to use as soon as possible. Officials must check once more to confirm that shelters are getting the information they need.
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One reason people may have remained in shelters in spite of the poor living environment is that they fear their ties with their hometowns will be cut if they move somewhere else. 
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It has been pointed out that people would be more willing to move to other dwellings if targets were set for them to later move into temporary housing in their hometowns -- even if that meant waiting six months. 
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Local bodies should swiftly announce detailed schedules for the construction of temporary homes.
In principle, evacuees are supposed to obtain their own supplies after moving into temporary housing, and their time in temporary housing is limited to two years -- facts that have left them uncertain about their futures.
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Workers construct temporary housing for people whose homes were destroyed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the grounds of a school acting as a shelter in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, Sunday, March 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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It is certain that it will take a long time to recover from the tsunami. The government should quickly review such principles.
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