三陸復興 | Sanriku Fukkou

Deutsch-Japanisches Synergie Forum (DJSF) Sanriku Fukkou e.V.

三陸復興 | Sanriku Fukkou

Schlagwort-Archive: #Iwate

2. Problem beim Wiederaufbau – Sozialer Wohnungsbau

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In Rikuzentakata ist ein Gebäudekomplex bestehend aus 3 acht – und drei 9 geschossigen Apartmenthäusern mit 301 Sozialwohnungen. Wahrscheinlich werden davon 206 bezogen, ca. 25% werden allein lebende ältere Personen sein. 95 Wohnungen werden leerstehen. Die Vereinsamung ist vorprogrammiert.
Ein weiteres Problem ist, dass die Feuerwehr bisher nur Leitern für 15 Meter

hohe Gebäude besitzt (5 stöckige Gebäude). Diese Gebäude sind doppelt so hoch. Die Leitern müssen beschafft werden und die Feuerwehr muss geschult werden.

岩手

＜災害公営住宅＞コミュニティーづくり模索

2016年08月01日 月曜日
岩手県内最大の災害公営住宅「県営栃ケ沢アパート」

　岩手県陸前高田市で１日、県内最大の災害公営住宅「県営栃ケ沢アパート」の入居が始まる。９階建てと８階建ての２棟で、市全体の３割以上を占める計３０１戸を整備した。だが、持ち家が中心の市民に高層集合住宅はなじみが薄く、新たなコミュニティーづくりや防災対策が課題となっている。
アパートは高台の市役所仮庁舎近くに立地する。県大船渡土木センターによると、現段階の入居見込みは２０６世帯。このうち、１人暮らしの高齢者は２４．８％に及ぶ。加えて入居者は市内各地から集まるとみられる。
高齢者らの相談に応じる陸前高田市地域包括支援センターの担当者は「都市型の住まいに慣れていたはずの神戸市でも、阪神大震災後に孤独死が出た。嫌になってストレスをためたり引きこもったりしないか」と心配する。
県営のため、住民サービスを担う市に入居者の詳しい情報が入らず、ケアの支障になりかねない。
県は市などと協議し、同意を得た入居世帯全員の氏名と性別、年齢の個人情報を、市や市社協、民生委員に提供することを決めた。
管理人や行政区長、班長の選任、自治会設立、入居者間交流といった課題にも連携して対応する。県大船渡地域振興センター復興推進課の米内敏明課長は「規模が大きく、コミュニティーづくりに危機感を持っている。住民の合意形成を大切に進めたい」と話す。
防災面でも懸念材料がある。東日本大震災前に中高層建物が少なかった市には消防のはしご車がない。栃ケ沢アパートをはじめ、７階以上の災害公営住宅が相次いで建ち、高さ１５メートル以上の建物は９棟に増えた。
はしご車の整備については消防庁の指針でおおむね１０棟を目安としているが、維持管理を含めた財源や職員態勢の問題もある。
市消防本部によると、災害公営住宅の部屋壁は鉄筋で隣室の延焼を防げるといい、玄関側とベランダ側からそれぞれ水平方向に避難しやすい構造になっている。同本部の担当者は「はしご車がなくても消防隊が支障なく上階に向かえる」と説明。今後は防火講習会を開き、入居者の不安解消に努める。

http://sp.kahoku.co.jp/tohokunews/201608/20160801_33005.html

Otsuchi, Return of a Perilous Beauty

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Tuesday, March 01, 2016

 No1-2016-03Otsuchi

A March 2015 view of the progress of the incremental landfill operations in centrol Otsuchi that began in 2013 after debris-clearing. To the left is the district of Ando, with its fishing jetty protruding into the harbor; across the Kozuchi River to the right is Nobematsu, now connected by a temporary span that replaced the original bridge and its six-meter high floodgates.
A tsunami-battered town tries to get back on its feet: struggle, conflict, bureaucracy and, yes, hope.

 

by Charles Pomeroy

Not all has gone smoothly in the town of Otsuchi as it struggles to recover from the tsunami devastation wreaked upon it five years ago. (See my story, “The Perilous Beauty of Otsuchi,” in the April, 2011 edition of No. 1 Shimbun.) For starters, the loss of its mayor, Koki Kato, together with key department heads and the more than 30 experienced staff that made up a quarter of the town’s civil servants meant that there was no one to immediately get to work on a master plan for recovery. It wasn’t until January 2012 that a draft was finally completed, under a new mayor, Yutaka Ikarigawa.

Mayor Ikarigawa was faced with a number of tough issues, from organizing housing for survivors to sorting out land problems for the dead and missing. And over the next several years some progress was made, including a partial revival of the fisheries industry and construction of new residences to replace the temporary structures housing survivors.

But two key projects in the master plan led to discontent, as the long-range view of those who had forged the plan clashed with the more immediate desires of the survivors. One was a plan to raise the ground level in central Otsuchi by 2.5 meters; the other, to build a huge seawall 14.5 meters high.

After months of uncertainty, many displaced townspeople could not wait another six years and departed for other locales.

The plan to raise the ground level, intended as a safeguard against smaller tsunami and future rises in the sea level, will bring it up to the level of the entry road from National Highway 45 and the new town offices, formerly the burned-out elementary school. It is a six-year project, started in 2012 with debris clearing, followed by incremental landfill scheduled through 2016, and finally ending with a year of waiting for it all to settle before rebuilding can begin in 2018. But after months of uncertainty following the tsunami, many displaced townspeople could not wait another six years and departed for other locales.

THE PLAN TO BUILD the huge seawall – favored by Tokyo bureaucrats, but with the responsibility in the hands of the prefecture – has yet to get underway. Strong doubts have been expressed about its usefulness in protecting the town against future, perhaps even larger, tsunami. Critics also say that any concrete structure of this kind will deteriorate and require replacement in 50 years, which will mean another huge outlay of tax money. They prefer an enhanced system of tsunami alerts and evacuation routes, which are already included in the master plan for central Otsuchi.

In particular, opposition was voiced by the fisheries folk in Akahama, which is also home to Tokyo University’s International Coastal Research Center (ICRC). Akahama also has a walkway to Horaijima, an islet known to most Japanese from a popular 1960s NHK puppet program Hyokkori Hyotan-jima that featured a popular theme song. Many of its residents were lost in the 2011 tsunami, opponents said, because the earlier seawall at 6.5 meters had blocked their view of the “drawback” – receding water from the harbor that preceded the onslaught – that would have alerted them to seek higher ground. In their opinion, a seawall 14.5 meters high would just make such future situations even worse.

Opponents had their point made for them with the release in April, 2015, of a documentary by director Haruko Konishi, titled Akahama Rock’n Roll. The film makes a strong case for the more traditional fishery environment rather than a high seawall. Even Akie Abe, the prime minister’s wife, expressed sympathy for the opponents’ cause at a UN Disaster Prevention Conference in Sendai last year, according to newspaper reports.

After losing almost 10 percent of its 15,239 citizens to the tsunami (one of the largest losses among the affected towns), Otsuchi’s population continues to drop. In fact, it had fallen by 23.2 percent by the end of 2015, according to a report in Asahi Shimbun. This is far and away the largest decrease among the coastal communities affected by the tsunami, with the next highest being Rikuzentakata at 15.2 percent. The reasons were various. Some former residents who had evacuated to inland towns just opted not to return to the gutted community. But the biggest hit came from the post-tsunami exodus of younger people looking for work or schooling elsewhere.
Today, Otsuchi has become a town occupied mostly by retirees and transient workers.

Aside from cleanup and landfill work and rebuilding, long-term jobs that can help persuade locals to stay are in short supply to this day. Although the partially recovered fishery industry continues to offer opportunities, these jobs seem to offer little appeal for the younger generation. And though MAST – Otsuchi’s major shopping center that attracted many residents of surrounding communities – reopened in December 2011, its consumer base began eroding after 2013 as a result of increasing competition from shopping centers in nearby towns, especially the Aeon shopping center in nearby Kamaishi.

Driving home the reality of a shrinking population was the merger of three elementary schools in April 2013. Today, Otsuchi has become a town occupied mostly by retirees and transient workers.

TO ENCOURAGE REBUILDING IN Otsuchi, government subsidies totaling ¥5 million are on offer to qualifying families. But no rebuilding can take place in the town center until 2018, and those who want to build in other areas face escalating construction costs. That is assuming, of course, that a construction company can be found, for even local governments are having difficulty in obtaining bids for their projects. Costs have been rising not only from demand in the stricken areas of Sanriku, but also from the general upgrading of the national infrastructure by the Abe administration, a situation further aggravated by the decision to hold the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

These developments have fed growing cynicism among survivors all along the Sanriku coast. Many sense they are being abandoned, or at least having their futures downgraded in favor of other government projects. These feelings have only increased following the decision to hold the Olympics. And when the central government recently announced an end to the intensive five-year phase of Tohoku reconstruction and a reduction in such funds for the next five-year phase from fiscal 2016, this only added to their pessimism.

Despite these negatives, one of our family members, a brother-in-law in his mid-60s who spent most of his adult life in Tokyo, returned to Otsuchi after retiring in 2015. He now works part time to supplement his retirement income while looking for new opportunities in his hometown. So far he has found none.

Many sense they are being abandoned, or at least having their futures downgraded in favor of other government projects.

Still, all is not lost, and perhaps the long-range planning of Ikarigawa’s experts, representing central and prefectural governments as well as academia and knowledgeable locals, will see a new dawning in Otsuchi. But he won’t be in a position to lead it. Difficulties with his master plan’s implementation eventually led to his defeat in the August 2015 election. His victorious opponent, Kozo Hirano, ran on a platform calling for a review of the planned reconstruction projects.

In addition to the slow but ongoing recovery of the fisheries, positive signs include the revival of the old railway line by Sanriku Railways in 2021 and the completion of the new Sanriku coastal expressway in 2022. Both will make Otsuchi more accessible for commerce and tourism as well as much easier to live in, especially for students who had pleaded for a return of the railway to enable commuting to schools in other towns. This should also increase the town’s attraction for families with school-age children.

OUR HOME WAS AMONG the 3,359 in Otsuchi destroyed by the tsunami. My wife Atsuko and I plan to begin rebuilding in 2018 on our small parcel of land at the southern edge of the central district, which will allow us to continue our retirement that began there in 2004. It will again put us within a five-minute walk of the family gravesite at Dainenji, and give us easy access to that mountain’s scenic hiking trail.

Sadly, we will no longer be joined on these hikes by our favorite companion, Atsuko’s elder sister, Noriko, who had lived nearby. She and her husband, Yuji, were both lost to the tsunami. Her remains were not identified until August of 2011 and his were never found. The addition of her ashes to the family gravesite has made our visits for the annual Obon Buddhist observances even more poignant.

Half of our neighbors were also lost to the tsunami and, apparently, none among the surviving families will return. So we will start afresh with new neighbors, but bedrock support from Atsuko’s brother and other relatives as well as friends dating back to her childhood.

No1-2016-03Pommag
The author’s feature on Otsuchi in the April 2011 earthquake special.

And with any luck, some of our favorite local shops will restart their businesses. In particular, I would like to see the reappearance of Akabu Sakaya, which made it a point to keep my favorite gin and vermouth in stock. ❶

Charles Pomeroy retired from journalism 12 years ago. He is the author of Tsunami Reflections—Otsuchi Remembered.

http://www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun/item/757-return-of-a-perilous-beauty.html

検証変貌するまち＞読めぬ集客　出店迷う

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左手の山裾に建つ災害公営住宅前のかさ上げ地が新たな市街地になる＝２月１０日、陸前高田市

拡大写真

拡大写真

◎（上）未来図への不安

東日本大震災の津波で壊滅した陸前高田市中心部の高田地区に、海抜１２メートルにかさ上げされた約１００ヘクタールの大地が誕生する。
ことし市街地区域で商業施設の集積が始まるが、住宅の整備はまだ数年かかる。新しい街にどれだけの住民が戻るのか。予測ははっきりせず、商業者は出店すべきか悩む。
先行する２６ヘクタールの新市街地で今夏、大型商業施設が着工する。周辺に商店街、さらに周縁には住宅地。公共施設やＪＲ大船渡線バス高速輸送システム（ＢＲＴ）の陸前高田駅を設ける。市が描く未来図だ。

＜投資見合わず＞
市が貸す商店街用地の地代は被災事業者なら１平方メートル当たり年３１１～３４０円と格安だ。仮設店舗の集積を狙うが、１月末に締め切った借地申請は２９事業所にとどまった。
地元商工会が２０１４年に実施した調査で、中心市街地での再開希望は１１８事業者に上っていた。市商工観光課は「スタート時としては想定内の数字」と受け止めるが、先行きは見えない。
仮設商店街でカフェを営む太田明成さん（４９）は大型店へのテナント入居を考えた。だが家賃と共益費が震災前の倍となる月２０万円と分かり、諦めた。
新店舗建設の見積もりでは自己負担が１５００万円を超えた。「月の売り上げを３０万円増やさないといけないが、投資に見合うだけの集客があるのか。借金を返すための出店にならないか」。自問を繰り返す。
仮設を限りに廃業を決めた人もいる。布団店経営の菅野幾夫さん（６６）は「年も年だし、後継者もいない。潮時だ」と創業１４０年の老舗を畳むつもりだ。
高田地区の土地区画整理事業の計画戸数は震災前と同規模の１５６０。対照的に市が１５年６月、仮設住民を対象にした住宅再建意向調査で、地区内の高台やかさ上げ地を希望したのは２３０世帯（１５年９月集計）にとどまる。しかも家を建てられるのは１７年度以降だ。
既に地区内の災害公営住宅に住む人は調査対象に入っていない。実際の居住世帯はこれより増えるとみられるが、市も実数をつかみきれていない。

＜生活の場分散＞
数年間は近隣住民がほとんどいない。地域経済を支える復興作業員は減っていく。病院や学校は高台に移り、生活の場が分散する。市街地には買い物や飲食の機能しかない。そんな街の姿が出店意欲を鈍らせる。
「またシャッター街をつくるのか、と言う人もいる。でも、誰かに設けてもらった街で愚痴を言いながら商売したいか。考えに考え、自分たちの手で魅力ある街を実現しよう」
地元商工会の中心市街地企画委員長の磐井正篤さん（５９）は勉強会の度にげきを飛ばす。商店街に和雑貨店を出すが、もちろん不安だ。
「人工的に街を築く壮大な実験。でも、身の丈より少し背伸びした街にしたい」。今は笑って前へ歩くしかないと覚悟を呼び掛ける。（太楽裕克）

津波被害を防ぐため、まちが変わる。巨大事業が進む中、被災者は暮らしや日々の営みで厳しい選択を迫られた。復興まちづくりで生じた課題を追う。
２面に関連記事、

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/tohokunews/201603/20160306_33006.html

Kinder in Tohoku, fast 5 Jahre nach dem Tsunami

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Wie geht es den Kindern in den zerstörten Gebieten? Haben sie die Erinnerungen an den Tsunami und den Verlust von nahe stehenden Verwandten und Freunden verarbeitet? Wie verläuft der Alltag in den vorübergehenden Gebäuden der Ersatzschule und das Leben im Container. Es gibt keinen Platz, in Ruhe Schularbeiten zu machen.

【東北の子ども達へ、あなたができること】
津波で家を流され、学ぶ場を失った子ども達が、被災地には残されています。
東北の子ども達のために、一人ひとりができること、考えてみませんか？

被災地負担、反対相次ぐ　復興相、首長らと会談　復興予算

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2015年4月12日05時00分

続きから読む

写真・図版野田武則・岩手県釜石市長（手前左から２人目）から竹下亘・復興相（手前右から２人目）に要望書が手渡された＝１１日、岩手県釜石市、松本龍三郎撮影

　東日本大震災の復興予算をめぐり、竹下亘復興相は１１日、被災した岩手県の市町村長らと会談した。２０１６年度以降は被災地側の一部負担を検討する考えを伝えたが、自治体側からは反対意見が相次いだ。復興相は近く宮城、福島両県も訪れるが、復興予算の枠組みが固まる６月までせめぎ合いが続きそうだ。

岩手県釜石市ログイン前の続きで開かれた会合には、竹下復興相や小泉進次郎復興政務官らが出席し、被災地からは野田武則・釜石市長ら１３市町村の首長らが参加した。

冒頭、竹下復興相は「復興の基幹事業は引き続き国費で対応していく」とあいさつ。その後、約２時間の会談は非公開だった。終了後、野田市長は「（国から）一部地方負担を検討しなければならないという発言もあった」と明らかにした。復興予算を国が全額負担する集中復興期間を今年度で終え、１６年度以降は復興予算の枠組みを見直す考えを示されたという。

岩手県幹部によると、竹下復興相は「復興に使うお金は、国民からいただいた税金ということをおさえていただかなければ」と語ったという。

被災地側は、復興予算の地元負担に反対する姿勢を示した。大槌町の大水敏弘副町長は「市町村ごとに被害と復興の度合いが違う。資材や作業員の確保が難しい事情もくんでほしい」と訴えたという。

町では市街地のかさ上げ工事が始まったばかり。会談後、大水副町長は「町は重傷を負ってリハビリ中の段階。人口１万人の町が政令指定市並みの額の大事業を進めており、国に支援してほしい」と述べた。

戸羽太・陸前高田市長も「財政や復興状況をみて議論してもらわないと困る」と話した。市は今年度、市街地かさ上げと高台造成工事に約３００億円を充てる。震災前の予算の２・７倍の規模だ。「社会教育施設や市役所も建てないといけない」とも語った。

市町村が懸念するのは厳しい財政状況だ。財政力指数は、震災前の１０年度でも大槌町が０・３１、陸前高田市が０・２７と、全国平均の０・５３を下回っていた。

会談では被災地側で負担する具体的な内容について説明がなかったという。終了後、竹下復興相は報道陣に「地方負担について共通の認識はできた」と話した。岩手県の中村一郎復興局長は「被災自治体は、自分の財布が痛まないから何でも国にやってもらったらいいという思いでは決してない」と語った。

（竹山栄太郎、斎藤徹、田渕紫織）

http://digital.asahi.com/articles/DA3S11700665.html?rm=150

Fighting to recover from the ocean’s wrath

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The new fight: Akahama Reconstruction Committee chairman Hiromi Kawaguchi is one of the two subjects of Haruko Konishi’s documentary ‚Akahama Rock’n Roll,‘ which focuses on an area in the town of Otsuchi that was devastated by the tsunami that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. | SO-NET ENTERTAINMENT CO. LTD.

BY

SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES

On April 11, Wataru Takeshita, the minister for reconstruction of the areas most seriously affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, met in Kamaishi with local government representatives to discuss the budget for Iwate Prefecture. After the meeting, the mayor of Kamaishi spoke to the press and said Takeshita told them the central government would continue paying for reconstruction work through next year, but after that he expected the prefecture and municipalities to cover part of the burden themselves.

“Please understand that the money we spend on reconstruction is from taxes levied on people nationwide,” Takeshita reportedly said during the meeting, which was closed to the media.

According to an article in the Asahi Shimbun, the local governments in attendance rejected the minister’s remarks, mainly because he neglected to go into detail about how much of a burden he was talking about and what sorts of things they would be paying for. The mayor of the city of Rikuzentakata seemed offended by the government attitude.

“They must discuss our financial situation and the reconstruction process,” he told an Asahi reporter. “Otherwise, we can’t envision a future for ourselves.”

Rikuzentakata is currently spending ¥30 billion to elevate levees and prepare higher ground for new residential housing, an amount equivalent to 2.7 times its whole annual budget. “And we still have to build schools and a new city hall,” he added.

Takeshita seemed oblivious to the resistance. He told reporters that he and the local governments “came to a common understanding” regarding division of reconstruction costs. A prefectural representative tried to point out that the municipalities weren’t saying “the central government should pay for everything and we pay nothing,” only that there had been no substantive discussion about what would happen after the current reconstruction budget expired in 2016.

As the Asahi presented the story, it read like a classic instance of official condescension, but the situation is more complicated. The report implies that the local governments formed a united front, but as the vice mayor of the town of Otsuchi said, the degree of damage suffered and the amount of reconstruction required differs from one place to another. By treating all the local governments the same way, the agency effectively demonstrates a lack of imagination and coordination, while the media gives the impression that money is the only issue.

Otsuchi, in fact, is the subject of a new documentary by Haruko Konishicalled “Akahama Rock’n Roll.” Akahama is the district closest to the sea and the one that contains the town’s fishing industry. One-10th of Akahama’s residents died in the 2011 tsunami or remain missing. The central subject of the film is the surviving residents’ objections to the central government’s plan to build a 14.5-meter-high seawall along the edge of the community. The rest of the town approved the seawall, or, at least, didn’t object to it.

The budget for construction was set in January 2012, when the town’s residents were still in shock from the disaster and hadn’t had time to think over the plans carefully. Since then, the people of Akahama decided that a better idea would be to move homes in the district to higher ground. The seawall, they contend, causes more problems than it solves. The tsunami, after all, was 22 meters high, so 14.5 meters may not do any good, but in any case, the fishermen of Akahama need to have constant visual contact with the ocean, and not just for the sake of their livelihoods. One reason so many people died in the tsunami was that they didn’t see it coming, since there was already a seawall blocking their line of sight, and that one was only 6.5 meters high.

Akahama is too small to attract the interest of the mass media, but Konishi managed to enlist one powerful supporter: Akie Abe, the wife of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. At the U.N. Disaster Prevention Conference in Sendai in March, she raised the matter of the seawall during an awards ceremony, saying that if you have to destroy the environment in order to safeguard a community from the forces of nature, then something is wrong. Since then, the movie and Akahama have been featured in a number of newspaper articles.

Konishi divides her footage between two principals: Tsutomu Abe (no relation to the prime minister), a fisherman who went back to work a few days after the tsunami, even though it killed his father, and Hiromi Kawaguchi, chairman of the Akahama Reconstruction Committee, who spearheads the local resistance to the seawall. This dual narrative approach toggles between the political aspects of the issue and the less concrete cultural ones.

Abe the fisherman represents the community’s soul, a man whose close relationship with the sea is primal. The tsunami was a tragedy, but, as he says over and over, you can’t fight nature.

“As long as our lives are connected to the ocean,” his mother says, “we have to be here.” And what’s the point of being here if you can’t see the water? When your life is dependent on the sea, you make peace with it as best you can.

People, however, are another matter, and it’s Kawaguchi’s job to fight the powers that try to tell him and those he represents what is best for them. Once the bureaucracy has a notion in its head, it’s difficult to change, and his fellow committee members, worn down by the subtle but relentless force of authority, seem willing to compromise, but Kawaguchi isn’t.

“Life comes from the sea,” he says. “And keeping the sea separate from us destroys life.”

If Konishi’s purpose is to show how a community’s desires should not be discounted even if those desires place it at risk, her movie acutely points out how specific needs can’t be summarily dismissed by logic or taken care of by charity.

“I’m not interested in people’s sympathy,” says Abe as he shucks oysters. “I just want to sell my products.”

Some Tohoku disaster areas on fast track to rebuilding while others stuck in slow lane

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Es wird noch zwei Jahre dauern, bis hier – in Rikuzentakata – am Meer Geschäfte gebaut werden können  – mithilfe dieser gigantischen Transportanlage wird die Erde, die auf einem Berg abgetragen wird, auf die Ebene gefördert. Mit LKWs hätte es ca. 10 Jahre gedauert. – Aber ist dieser auf 10 – bzw auf 14 m angehäufte Grund so stabil, dass er bebaut werden kann – wie viel Zeit muss er sacken und wie häufig verdichtet werden? Auf der Ebene dürfen nur Geschäftshäuser errichtet werden – das bedeutet für die Menschen zwei Mieten – einmal für die Wohnung auf dem Berg, einmal für das Geschäft. In den temporären Einkaufszentren sind viele Händler schon über 65 Jahre – sie können sich die beiden Mieten nicht leisten, müssen aber irgendetwas weiter arbeiten – immer noch viele Probleme, die man auch mit High Tech nicht lösen kann.

BY SHUSUKE MURAI

STAFF WRITER

This is the first of a five-part series on the lingering impact of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster on the three hardest-hit prefectures in the Tohoku region.

“Bridge of Hope” is the name of a temporary span over the Kesen River in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.

It connects a hill where construction is underway to create a residential area on high ground and to raise a low-lying coastal zone where 4,045 dwellings were destroyed by gigantic tsunami on March 11, 2011.

The bridge is not for people. Built in front of the city’s symbolic “miracle pine tree” that survived the tsunami when the rest of its grove was swept away, the temporary bridge is a link in a 3-km-long conveyor belt system that carries 40,000 tons of soil and gravel — the equivalent of 4,000 10-ton truckloads — from the hill every day.

Four years ago, 18-meter-high tsunami hit the coastal city and killed 1,556 residents; 207 are still listed as missing.

The waves also devastated the city’s famous oyster farms and a pine forest the government had designated as one of 100 locations nationwide of special scenic beauty.

Rikuzentakata is one part of the Tohoku region aiming to fast-track its rebirth and become a safer place to live.

To that end, the city is building two seawalls 1.8 km long, one 3 meters high and the other 12.5 meters, as part of efforts to mitigate the threat of future tsunami. It is also elevating the land in the coastal zone by some 10 meters.

Thanks to the conveyor belt system built in March 2014 by general contractor Shimizu Corp. at a cost of ¥12 billion, the city can shorten the time it will take for the reconstruction work from an initially planned nine years to two.

Besides being efficient, the conveyor system offers hope to the tsunami survivors waiting to get back to a semblance of normalcy, Rikuzentakata Mayor Futoshi Toba said.

“Thanks to the eye-catching machine that symbolizes the reconstruction by operating every day, survivors can experience step-by-step progress,” he said, adding that the conveyor system, which has rarely been used for ordinary construction work, has also drawn sightseers.

Seeing the progress with their own eyes is “much more encouraging for people” than what officials can do behind closed doors, the mayor said.

Rikuzentakata’s progress represents Tohoku’s hopes — and struggles — to reconstruct life as usual.

With most of the tsunami debris disposed of by last March, except for in some no-go-zone and evacuation areas in Fukushima Prefecture where radioactive decontamination work is still underway, Tohoku has finally started full-scale building of permanent dwellings, both detached houses and condominiums, for survivors who lost their homes in the disaster.

Many survivors, however, are still in limbo as municipalities face delays in providing permanent housing units.

Iwate Prefecture had constructed 1,049 publicly funded replacement homes for survivors as of January — just 18 percent of the 5,933 units planned to be built by September 2018. The deadline was initially March 2018.

Miyagi is also experiencing construction delays.

As of January, the prefecture had built 2,692 housing units, or 17.4 percent of 15,484 units planned to be completed by March 2018.

In Fukushima, only 261 units, or 5 percent of the 4,890 units planned by March 2018, were available for nuclear disaster evacuees as of January. Also, just 1,190 replacement houses, or 44 percent of the 2,702 units planned, were constructed for tsunami and earthquake survivors in the prefecture.

The delay is due to the rising cost of labor and construction materials, Iwate Gov. Takuya Tasso said.

Meanwhile a vast number of people continue to live in temporary housing units.

In Iwate, 22,300 people were still in prefab temporary housing as of January, down a mere 13 percent from 25,619 last March.

Miyagi in January still had 35,332 people living in temporary shelters, down 16 percent from the 42,310 listed 10 months earlier.

The situation in Fukushima also remains problematic, with 24,098 people still living in temporary housing in January, even though 15 percent of 28,367 had moved away from such units as of last March.

The number of temporary shelter dwellers is surprisingly high, considering that all displaced survivors of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake had moved out of similar housing five years after that disaster. The Hanshin temblor caused greater structural damage than the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, but there were no huge tsunami.

Industries in the Tohoku region are also suffering from slumping sales and manpower shortages.

Seafood production in Tohoku remains low. According to a survey by the Fisheries Agency between November and January, just 53 percent of facilities in Iwate Prefecture were operating at 80 percent or above of their pre-disaster levels. In Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the number is even lower, at 50 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

Worse, the percentage of facilities at or above the 80-percent production threshold hasn’t changed much since last year’s survey, which recorded 57 percent in Iwate, 49 percent in Miyagi and 24 percent in Fukushima.

A recovery in seafood sales has also foundered, with this year’s survey showing just 58 percent of firms in Iwate reaching 80 percent or above pre-disaster levels. The figure is 40 percent in Miyagi and a mere 21 percent in Fukushima.

Iwate Gov. Tasso said the slumping sales in Tohoku fisheries is due to delays in the recovery of factories to process fish products, and radiation fears stemming from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Despite abundant job opportunities, the three hardest-hit prefectures are suffering a labor crunch.

Local industries, especially fish processing, construction and nursing care, are suffering from the shortage of human resources. Specialists who can take the lead in constructing infrastructure for community development are also in short supply, Tasso said.

Some Rikuzentakata residents don’t hide their anxiety about life after reconstruction.

Taxi driver Haruyuki Sato doubts people want to return to live in areas where they lost their homes to the tsunami.

“I can’t foresee how the city will turn out (after all the reconstruction ends),” he said.

Some citizens oppose the city’s planned seawalls, which will mar the traditional coastal scenery and the planned 70,000-tree pine forest to be planted on land between the embankments.

Midori Murakami of sightseeing promoter Marugoto-Rikuzentakata said that as the construction progresses, there is an emotional gap between locals who lost loved ones in the disaster and those who didn’t.

“Some people complain about creating a (raised-ground zone) on land where about 200 missing people may be buried,” she said. “But otherwise we can’t move ahead. . . . I feel both excitement and concern while the reconstruction advances.

“But local people are looking forward. . . . Thanks to the reconstruction, I get to know many new people and we work together,” she added.

Fiscal 2015, which starts next month, will mark the fifth year of Iwate’s eight-year reconstruction plan and the second year of its three-year “full-fledged” effort to rebuild housing, lives and industries for survivors. The estimated reconstruction budget will reach ¥1.1 trillion, the highest since the disasters if not counting past debris disposal, the governor said.

“When thinking about disaster victims . . . I feel it’s a mission for us survivors to reconstruct a city filled with smiles . . . (so) that even the most depressed people come here and become encouraged by finding diverse people at work and full of pride,” said Rikuzentakata Mayor Toba, who lost his wife in the disaster.

Fiscal 2015 will also be the final year of the government’s ¥25 trillion five-year reconstruction budget, which Toba said is the biggest concern for those hoping the rebuilding work won’t grind to a halt.

The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has not made an official plan on whether or how to distribute the reconstruction budget after March 2016.

Toba is worried that the apparent waning sense of crisis among the public may lead to policymakers placing less priority on reconstruction.

“If possible, I want as many people as possible to visit the reconstruction sites — not necessarily Rikuzentakata — while the damage from the great earthquake still remains. Then, I want them to revisit after five, 10 years (to see the dramatic changes after the reconstruction),” he said.

“All bereaved families have something unforgettable inside them . . . but I think even that sorrow may turn to become an unbeatable energy (to generate positive effects).”

FOUR YEARS AFTER: Many schools still not rebuilt due to rising costs, other priorities

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March 08, 2015

Students of Unosumai Elementary School in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, attend classes in prefabricated school buildings as reconstruction of school buildings are delayed. (Eiichiro Suganuma)

Students of Unosumai Elementary School in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, attend classes in prefabricated school buildings as reconstruction of school buildings are delayed. (Eiichiro Suganuma)

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the broken buildings of the Schools in Usunomai are gone, the new buildings will stand up the hill – but it will take three more years that pupils can enter it.

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

For students who entered Unosumai Elementary School in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, after the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, they will attend classes in prefabricated buildings for six years until graduation.

The school, located near the sea, was swallowed up by the ensuing tsunami, although all the 350 students were safely evacuated to a hillside.

Unosumai is among the many elementary and junior high schools damaged in the earthquake and tsunami that have experienced delays in rebuilding.

The large number of public works projects currently ongoing in the disaster-hit areas have resulted in a rise in the costs of construction materials and a serious shortage of workers.

Priorities have also been placed on large-scale projects, such as construction of roads ordered by the central government. Subsequently, reconstruction of school buildings has been put on the back burner.

At Unosumai Elementary, 182 students are studying in prefabricated buildings, as reconstruction of their school has yet to be started.

As prices of concrete and labor costs of workers have jumped in a short period of time, the costs of the reconstruction plan worked out in spring 2014 ballooned. As a result, the central government did not approve the plan.

In a process that took six months, the Kamaishi city government decreased the construction budget by making changes, including scaling back the school buildings. It also introduced a special bidding process that selected contractors from the design stage.

Despite those efforts, the school buildings are not expected to be completed until 2017, which means classes will continue in the prefabricated buildings.

“Though the school buildings are prefabricated ones, children are enjoying their school lives,” said Chizuko Kobayashi, 41, whose three daughters are attending Unosumai Elementary School.

The school bus that transports children from temporary housing facilities to the school passes through districts that were devastated by the tsunami. Because of that, when a tsunami warning is issued, students sometimes have to stay at the prefabricated school buildings until late at night.

“I hope that the school buildings that children can attend safely are constructed as early as possible,” Kobayashi said.

According to the Iwate prefectural government, of the 15 schools damaged by the tsunami, Funakoshi Elementary School in Yamada completed reconstruction of its school buildings in spring 2014.

The school buildings of Takata High School in Rikuzentakata are also scheduled to be completed late this month.

However, students in the remaining 13 elementary or junior high schools in five municipalities are still studying in prefabricated buildings or using buildings of former schools.

The reconstruction of Otsuchi Elementary School and Otsuchi Junior High School in Otsuchi, Takata-Higashi Junior High School in Rikuzentakata, and Okirai Elementary School in Ofunato are likely to be delayed for six months or more as municipal governments have failed to secure contractors in the bidding process.

In neighboring Miyagi Prefecture, 15 elementary and junior high schools are still using prefabricated buildings or other facilities. It is taking time for many of them and two public high schools to choose new sites for their schools or complete reconstruction of their buildings.

Completion of the new Yuriage Elementary School and Yuriage Junior High School in Natori are likely to be delayed until April 2018. A relocation site for Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki also has yet to be determined.

(This article was written by Eiichiro Suganuma and Masataka Yamaura.)

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Japan after the tsunami – 進まぬ震災復興 東京五輪が奪うヒトやカネ

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Auch vier Jahre nach dem Tsunami lässt der Wiederaufbau an der Sanriku Küste auf sich warten. Die Bauvorhaben für die Olympiade 2020 in Tokyo verteuern die Baumaterialien und das Interesse der Bauunternehmer, sich in Tohoku zu engagieren ist drastisch gesunken. So müssen die Evakuierten noch einige Jahre in ihren temporären Containern ausharren.

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21642216-rebuilding-north-eastern-region-tohoku-being-bungled-grinding

Japan after the tsunami

Grinding on

Rebuilding the north-eastern region of Tohoku is being bungled

NEARLY four years after north-eastern Japan’s huge earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown on March 11th 2011, more than 170,000 people are still stuck in temporary housing along the ravaged coast. One of them is Sumiko Yoshida, a woman in her 70s who lives with her husband in cramped, mouldy quarters in Rikuzentakata, a fishing port that was washed away by the tsunami. More than 1,750 people died there, including the Yoshidas’ son, Isao, a city official who was helping others to get to higher ground. With no place to call home and no butsudan (household altar) for her son, Mrs Yoshida says she cannot properly mourn him—a photograph on a makeshift table has to do. She has suppressed her grief for so long, she says, that the tears will not come.

http://infographics.economist.com/2015/RikuzB4AFTA/RikuzA.html

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, says that the devastated north-east is a crucial test of his plans to revive the country’s economy. Indeed, an early campaign stop for the general election last December was one of many prefabricated housing blocks crammed into school grounds in Rikuzentakata. Yet other national priorities seem to trump the region’s reconstruction. A building boom fuelled by Mr Abe’s monetary and fiscal stimulus has sucked construction capacity away from the north-east to Tokyo, where deals are more lucrative. Locals ask why the capital is building an ostentatious stadium for the Olympic games in 2020, when the poor and elderly who lost their homes in the tsunami are still not rehoused. Takuya Tasso, governor of Iwate, one of the worst-hit prefectures, says the government is losing interest in the region.

From the start, reconstruction called for money, energy and vision. In the months following the disaster locals showed great resilience, and volunteers from other parts of the country flocked to help. Some 20m tonnes of debris were quickly cleared. Hopeful planners sketched out new towns built on higher ground, powered by renewable energy. Some people even wondered whether rebuilding the north-east could pull the whole country out of its economic stagnation.

Given those early hopes, the slow progress has been hugely disappointing. Up and down the coast, much infrastructure has not been replaced and only a sixth of planned new construction of public housing has been finished. Drive through the wasteland of Rikuzentakata, and satellite-navigation screens eerily show where every house, petrol station and municipal building formerly stood. The city is only at the stage of moving earth from a nearby mountain to fill in land that sank by a metre (three feet) during the earthquake.

As for Ishinomaki, a city in Miyagi prefecture where 3,700 residents drowned in the tsunami, only 150-odd households have moved into permanent new housing, with 12,700 people still in temporary quarters. City officials in part blame the bureaucracy in Tokyo for delays in reconstruction. Ishinomaki’s mayor says it took six months for the farm ministry to allow paddy fields to be rezoned as land for a new city district.

http://infographics.economist.com/2015/RikuzAFTA2DAY/RikuzB.html

In many towns and villages, the early solidarity is now fraying as those with money build new homes. There have been disagreements between generations. Older residents are reluctant to leave coastal villages and family graves for good—many made a good living from oyster farming and fishing. Younger generations, by contrast, want to live in bigger, consolidated communities on higher ground behind the coast. Doubts that such towns will ever be built have quickened the region’s depopulation, under way even before the tsunami. The population of Iwate, the most northerly of the three prefectures that bore the brunt of the tsunami, has declined by 46,000 or nearly 3% since.

After the disaster the central government pledged ¥25 trillion ($213 billion) over five years. Yet the system bars much public money going directly to the victims. Those who lost homes can get a maximum of around ¥3m (many houses were uninsured). Many folk are in financial straits, often still paying mortgages on houses that were swept away and too poor to join communities planning to move to new towns.

Meanwhile, it is often the bosses of construction companies, rather than local officials or central government, who pick and choose what is built. When Rikuzentakata’s city government recently asked companies to bid for the construction of a new junior high school, developers said the budget was a third too low, and the project failed. A consequence is that local banks are brimming with government cash that is not being spent. In Kesennuma, a fishing port in which over 1,360 people died, the first new public-housing block for evacuees has only just opened. Construction firms are generally refusing to build such housing, says its mayor, Shigeru Sugawara. Japan’s reconstruction agency insists that project budgets are reasonable. But with labour and materials costs high, and a boom elsewhere, construction firms can cherry-pick what they take on.

In Kesennuma, for instance, they are happy to pour concrete into the first of over 70 new sea walls planned for the city of 67,000. These are walls, up to 90m wide and 15 metres high, which the central government decreed in 2011 were necessary to protect the north-eastern coastline. Up to ¥1 trillion is to be spent on them. Yet the sea walls are using up money that could be better spent elsewhere. The monstrosities are both unpopular and of little use. Even the land ministry admits that the planned walls would not have coped with the earthquake and tsunami of four years ago. Local leaders say they are moving ahead with the walls mainly because the central government insisted on them.

As for the evacuees, the real deadline for their rehousing may prove to be 2020, says Satoru Ito, who set up a non-profit organisation to help residents of Rikuzentakata after he lost his mother and home in the tsunami. For if they are still in temporary housing by the time of the Olympics, Mr Ito asks, “what will foreigners think?”

東日本大震災から間もなく４年。被災地の復興はいっこうに進んでいない。津波で家を奪われた人々はいまだに仮設住宅で先の見えない生活をしている。アベノミクスと東京五輪開催が起こした建設ラッシュは、被災地から人手や資材を奪い、一層復興を遅らせている。

　2011年３月11日に起きた東日本大震災と津波、その後の福島第一原発のメルトダウンから間もなく４年がたとうとしている。いまだに17万人以上の人々が荒れ果てたままの海辺に並ぶ仮設住宅で先の見えない生活をしている。

防災対策庁舎前で犠牲者の冥福を祈る復興工事の関係者たち（2014年９月11日、宮城県南三陸町）
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防災対策庁舎前で犠牲者の冥福を祈る復興工事の関係者たち（2014年９月11日、宮城県南三陸町）

そのうちの１人、70代のヨシダスミコさんは、津波に流された港町、岩手県陸前高田市の窮屈なカビ臭い仮設住宅で、夫と暮らしている。陸前高田市では1750人以上の人が亡くなった。ヨシダさんの息子イサオさんも、市職員として人々を高台に避難させていて命を落とした。

自宅と呼べる場所もなく、息子のための仏壇も持っていないヨシダさんは、息子をちゃんと弔うことができないと嘆く。間に合わせのテーブルに置かれた遺影だけがその役割を果たしている。彼女は長い間悲しみを抑えてきたので、涙はもうでないと言う。

■もうけが大きい東京の建設案件

安倍晋三首相は、東北の被災地復興は、自らが進める経済再生計画の極めて重要な試金石になると述べている。実際、安倍首相は、昨年12月の衆院選の早い段階で、陸前高田市にある学校の校庭にびっしりと並んだプレハブ住宅の１つに遊説に訪れた。

しかし今は、その他の課題が被災地復興よりも優先されているようだ。安倍首相が進める金融及び財政刺激策によって建設ブームが起こっており、東北地方に行くはずの人手や資材が東京に奪われている。東京で行われる建設案件の方がもうけが大きいからだ。

東北の人々は、こう疑問を口にする――津波で家を失った高齢者や貧しい人々がまだ新しい家に移っていない状態なのに、なぜ東京は2020年五輪のために派手な競技場を建設しようとしているのか。震災の被害が最も大きかった県の１つ、岩手県の達増拓也知事は、政府は東北への興味を失いつつあるのだと指摘する。

被災地の復興には、そもそも最初から資金とエネルギーとビジョンが必要だった。震災後の数カ月間、地元民たちは素晴らしい回復力を見せた。被災地を助けようと、各地からボランティアも集まってきた。これによって、約2000万トンのがれきがあっという間に取り除かれた。

希望に燃えた担当者たちは、再生可能エネルギーによって賄われる新しい街を高台につくる構想を描いた。東北の復興によって日本経済が景気低迷から脱出できるのではないかと考えた者すらいた。

■失われつつある連帯感

こうした最初のころの希望を考えると、復興がなかなかはかどらない現状は極めて残念だ。海岸線を見渡しても、新しくなったインフラはあまりない。計画された公営住宅の建設もわずか６分の１しか完了していない。

分別して集積されたがれき（2011年５月25日、宮城県石巻市）
画像の拡大

分別して集積されたがれき（2011年５月25日、宮城県石巻市）

陸前高田市の荒れ地をクルマで走ると、カーナビの画面には以前そこに建っていた住宅やガソリンスタンド、市庁舎が不気味に映し出される。同市は現在、地震で１メートルも沈下した地盤を埋めるために、近くの山から土を運んでいる段階だ。

一方、津波で3700人の住民が亡くなった宮城県石巻市では、新しい恒久住宅に移ったのはわずか150余世帯。いまだに１万2700人が仮設住宅で暮らしている。市当局は、復興が進まない原因の一端は国の官僚主義にあると非難する。石巻市長によると、新たに町を作るため水田だった土地を市街化区域へと区分変更するのに、農林水産省は６カ月もかかったという。

多くの町や村で、震災直後に存在した連帯感が失われつつある。お金のある人は次々と新しい家を建てているからだ。世代間の意見の相違も顕著だ。年配の人は海沿いの村や家族の墓から永久に離れたくないと思っている――彼らの多くがかきの養殖や漁業で良い暮らしをしてきた。一方、若い世代は、海岸から離れた高台の、より大きく統合された共同体で暮らしたがっている。

そのような町が果たして建設されるのかという疑念が、津波が発生する前から進んでいたこの地域の過疎化を加速している。津波被害を受けた３県の中で最も北に位置する岩手県では、震災以来、人口が４万6000人減少している。これは県の総人口の約３％に当たる

震災後、政府は５年間で25兆円に及ぶ復興予算を約束した。だが、制度的な問題のために、公的資金の多くは被災者の元に届いていない。住宅を失った人がもらえるのは最大でも300万円程度（多くの住宅が保険の補償対象外だった）。多くの人が経済的に厳しい状態にあり、津波に流された家のローンを今も払い続けている場合もある。そして、経済的余裕がないために新しい町への移転を計画するコミュニティーに加わることができない。

■建設会社は仕事をえり好み

何を建設するかを決めるのは、自治体でも政府でもなく、建設会社の社長である場合が多い。以前、陸前高田市で中学校の新校舎を建設する入札を行ったところ、業者たちは予算が３分の１低いと言い、入札は不調に終わった。こうした事態が増え、使われない政府の現金が地方の銀行にあふれかえっている。

1360人以上が犠牲になった漁港の町、宮城県気仙沼市では、避難者向けの公営住宅の第１号が完成し、入居が始まった。同市の菅原茂市長は、こうした住宅建設のほとんどの案件を、建設会社は拒否すると言う。復興庁は、公営住宅建設の予算は妥当な金額だと主張する。だが、ほかの場所で建設ラッシュが起き、労働コストや資材コストが上がっている今、建設会社は引き受ける仕事をえり好みできる。

例えば人口６万7000人の気仙沼市に70カ所以上建設することになっている巨大防潮堤は建設会社にとって人気のプロジェクトだ。これは最大で幅90メートル、高さ15メートルの壁で、政府が東北の海岸線を守るために必要だとして、2011年に建設を命じた。最大１兆円が防潮堤の建設に費やされることになっている。

防潮堤は、別のところでもっと良い使い方ができるはずの予算を食いつぶしている。この巨大建造物は住民の間で人気がないばかりかほとんど役に立たない。国土交通省ですら、この壁は４年前の地震と津波に耐えられなかっただろうと認めている。自治体のリーダーたちは、防潮堤の建築を推進しているのは、主として、政府がそれを求めているからだと語る。

避難民の住宅問題を解決する本当の期限は2020年になるかもしれない。津波で母と家を失った後、陸前高田市の住民を助ける非政府組織（ＮＧＯ）を設立したイトウサトル氏はこう言う。もし、東京オリンピックのときにまだ彼らが仮設住宅に住んでいたとしたら、「外国の人たちはどう思うだろうか」とイトウ氏は問う。

（c）2015 The Economist Newspaper Limited. Feb 7th 2015 All rights reserved.

英エコノミスト誌の記事は、日経ビジネスがライセンス契約に基づき翻訳したものです。英語の原文記事はwww.economist.comで読むことができます。

Fixes for temporary housing expected to cost ¥78 billion

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Fixes for temporary housing expected to cost ¥78 billion

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Yomiuri ShimbunThe total accumulated cost of repairing and refurbishing temporary houses for disaster victims will likely reach ¥78.03 billion through the end of this fiscal year, according to the governments of the seven prefectures where they were built after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Prefabricated temporary housing units originally designed to last for up to two years have now been used for more than three years. Numerous problems have emerged as a result, including leaking roofs.

An expert panel from the Cabinet Office will begin reexamining the period of use and other aspects of the temporary houses to prepare for future disasters, including a huge earthquake predicted along the Nankai Trough off the Pacific Ocean.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, local governments in the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Chiba built the temporary houses based on the Disaster Relief Law. Temporary houses were also built in Nagano Prefecture for victims of another quake in the northern part of the prefecture, which occurred just after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

A total of 53,194 temporary housing units were built in the seven prefectures at initial construction costs totaling about ¥290 billion. The units in Chiba, Tochigi and Nagano prefectures were dismantled as of the end of May this year. Currently, 93,017 people live in 42,590 temporary housing units in the remaining four prefectures.

The law stipulates that temporary houses will be usable for two years and have a per-unit acreage of about 30 square meters. The assumed construction cost per unit was about ¥2.39 million at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Many of the temporary houses have similar structures to the prefabricated offices at construction sites. They are zinc-roofed and their walls are thin.

Measures to cope with cold weather were especially insufficient. After construction was completed, additional work was done at the request of residents to reinforce heat insulating materials in the walls and double-layer windows.

Total costs from fiscal 2011 to 2013 in the seven prefectures stood at about ¥73.18 billion. In Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the initial construction costs and the additional work as of January 2013 reached a combined average of ¥6.79 million per unit.

Temporary housing residents are expected to relocate to publicly run housing units for disaster victims. But only 8 percent of the necessary units have been completed, meaning the temporary houses will be used for the foreseeable future. This could present a problem, since some temporary housing units have started to tilt because of weak soil, and residents are increasingly complaining of such problems as leaking roofs and mold.

The prefectural governments of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima allocated a total of about ¥4.86 billion for repairs and other additional work in their fiscal budgets this year, and extended the period people can live in temporary housing to five years. These measures mean necessary repair costs will likely continue increasing.

To extend the durability of the temporary houses, their foundations must be rebuilt using ferro-concrete. But this alone will cost ¥300,000 to ¥400,000 per unit.

If a Nankai Trough quake occurs, about 400,000 temporary housing units will be necessary in the eight prefectures that presented forecast figures, according a The Yomiuri Shimbun survey in December last year.

Consequently, the Cabinet Office panel, which handles how the central government should assist disaster victims, is set to submit proposals about temporary housing for disaster victims.

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Streitigkeiten beim Wiederaufbau – Küstenschutz in Otsuchi

ein Artikel von Prof. Yu Nakai (University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Institut für Soziale Infrastruktur | EA Association)

Schon im September 2011 hatte die Regierung in Tokyo beschlossen, an der Sanriku Küste zum Schutz der Siedlungen an der Küste bis zu 14,7 Meter hohe Betonwälle zu bauen. In Otsuchi sollten 14,5 m hohe Betonmauern gebaut werden. Zunächst war die Bevölkerung mit dem Vorhaben einverstanden, versprach diese Mauer doch Schutz und das Bauland direkt am Meer wurde nicht wertlos, die Chance, dort wieder zu bauen war gegeben. Aber im Laufe der Zeit wurden die Überlegungen und Gedanken der dort lebenden Einwohner deutlicher. Die hohen Betonmauern sind im Falle eines Tsunami immer noch nicht sicher, verleiten aber die Bevölkerung, nicht auf Anhöhen zu fliehen. Das größte Problem sind die Kosten – aber Betonwälle sind auch eine Katastrophe für die Biodiversität und das Ökosystem: Berg-Fluß-Küste. 

Während unseres zweiwöchigen Aufenthaltes in Otsuchi (12.9. bis 24.9.) werden wir intensiv über die Probleme und die unterschiedlichen Meinungen sprechen.