THE JAPAN NEWS

 

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Nine of 11 municipal heads in the areas in Kumamoto Prefecture that were hit by the Kumamoto Earthquake replied that it is still unknown when evacuation shelters will be able to be closed, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.

The survey was conducted from May 7 to 11 for heads of 13 local governments in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures devastated by the series of earthquakes.

About 10,000 people still live in shelters. One month has passed since the quakes occurred and it is feared that the duration of those living lives as evacuees could last for a long time.

As urgent challenges, many of the local government heads cited rebuilding residents’ daily lives and securing housing for victims.
Those who were surveyed from Kumamoto Prefecture were the heads of the cities of Kumamoto, Uki, Aso and Yatsushiro; the towns of Mifune, Kashima, Mashiki, Ozu and Kikuyo; and the villages of Minami-Aso and Nishihara. Those from Oita Prefecture were the heads of the cities of Beppu and Yufu.

In Kumamoto Prefecture as of Saturday, there were a total of 238 evacuation shelters in 25 municipalities. Among 11 municipal heads in the prefecture, the mayors of Kashima and Nishihara replied that the closure of shelters there is in sight because construction of temporary housing units will be completed as early as June.
But the other nine answered that it is still unknown when all the shelters will become redundant.

In another Yomiuri Shimbun survey of 100 victims living in shelters in the prefecture, about 70 percent said they had no idea when they would be able to leave the shelters.

About how reconstruction work has progressed, 11 municipal heads, including two in Oita Prefecture, said that while some progress can be seen, the work will likely take a long time.

When asked to pick the top three highest-priority challenges, the top answer was “rebuilding residents’ daily lives” (11 replies), followed by “securing housing including temporary housing units for residents” (nine replies), “repairing and rebuilding roads and other infrastructure” (seven replies) and “removing debris” (five replies).

Ten local government heads in Kumamoto Prefecture, except the Yatsushiro mayor, replied that their municipal governments plan to construct temporary housing units. They said that construction of the first groups of temporary housing units will likely be completed from June through July.

The heads of Aso, Mifune, Mashiki and Nishihara said they were concerned about a possible outflow of the population due to the impact of the quakes. During the Kumamoto Earthquake, incidents that were not predicted in local disaster prevention plans occurred. For example, the quakes of the highest level of 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale occurred twice.

Eleven of the 13 municipal heads in the two prefectures said they will totally or partially review their respective disaster prevention plans. The remaining two said that their municipalities’ plans need to be reviewed.
About actions to be taken in the future, the Kumamoto mayor cited having a store of materials that can give aid to about 200,000 evacuees and the establishment of an evacuation facility management system.