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Temporary Housing for the Victims


As the situation unfolds, many problems have come up.

Prime minister KAN promised housing for all in need by mid-August, the ancestral O-Bon ceremonies for the dead.

To find land high enough in the coastal areas is difficult. Also land that should be used to bild the new villages cannot be used now.

Moving out of the shleters, people have to pay for their own livelyhood in the temporary houses: water, electricity, food. Many families do not have an income since March 11, 2011 and no future expectations to find one in the devastated areas.

More and more young families are moving out of Tohoku now.
(June 11, 2011)



kasetsu juutaku 仮設住宅
Kesennuma 気仙沼

This one is built with wheelchair access for each unit, since many elderly are living here alone.

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Saturday, June 11, 2011

The government plans to build a total of 52,000 temporary homes for the evacuees, but only about 28,000 have been completed.
Many evacuees have declined to move into the temporary housing, citing insufficient support services compared to those at shelters.
. Saturday, June 11, 2001 .


quote
Housing still scarce three months after disaster
Sites for temporary units, new homes on high ground in conflict

Three months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and with a nuclear power plant disaster still unfolding, thousands of evacuees are still living in shelters as construction of temporary housing plods along.



In the worst-affected prefectures — Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima — only half of the 52,000 temporary homes required have been completed.

... Miyagi Prefecture's policy is to build much of the temporary housing inland to save coastal land for permanent homes. On the scarce high ground available in coastal areas, such structures would be in the way when projects to build permanent housing begin, a prefectural official said.
... Iwate is trying to satisfy quake-tsunami survivors by preserving their prequake communities. The prefecture built temporary homes on previously uninhabited, sloping land near the waterfront so residents can live near where their houses used to stand.
But given the scarcity of flat space in Iwate's coastal areas, a major project to build new houses will have to be carried out on hilly areas that surround it.
Residents of the Akahama district of the Iwate town of Otsuchi, for example, insist on continuing to live on the high ground where some 130 temporary houses are being built.
... But building permanent houses on spots already taken up by temporary dwellings would be difficult for home builders and costly as well.
The situation seems even more complex in Fukushima Prefecture, where Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s crippled nuclear power station remains a constant threat.
MORE
source : Japan Times

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From a TV report on June 14:
In a temporary housing area of about 40 homes, they keep an eye on each other. There are food rations prepared for each unit, in a numbered box. When the housewifes get the food rations, they have to check out at the door of the distribution unit and say their name. A volunteer clark then ticks off a box in the schedule list.
In the evening, when he finds unchecked names on the list, he sets out to visit these units. Since there are many elderly living alone, he wants to make sure nothing happened to them. He and other volunteers bring the food to them and talk to them for a while, encouraging them to get out and get their food the next day by themselves.
Many of the people living in this housing compound do not know each other well and this is a way of bonding (kizuna). Now they want to install a small community hall where they can meet casually, drink tea and chat. It is very important to get the lonely elderly people out and sharing in community life.
This pattern should be followed in other temporary housing areas.

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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

While some 52,000 temporary houses are needed in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, only half the number has been completed so far. Many of them have been built in inland areas far from traditional communities. Sites on higher ground near the now-devastated communities have been set aside for construction of permanent houses.
Some refugees have refused to live in temporary houses because they are far from their workplaces or schools.
In temporary shelters, it is difficult to protect one's privacy. But food is delivered, doctors make regular visits and volunteers help those staying there.
Once people start living in temporary houses, they have to prepare meals and visit doctors by themselves. Municipalities must make special efforts to ensure that aged people living alone in temporary houses do not suffer from health problems.
source : Japan Times


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