Iwate, Miyagi Disaster Victims to Find Public Homes by FY 2020

August 2, 2018

Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Pref.- The Japanese government aims to finish the relocation of March 2011 disaster victims living in temporary housing in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures to public homes by fiscal 2020, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested Thursday.

"Securing homes is an important step toward reconstruction. We'll do all we can so people no longer have to live in temporary housing," Abe told reporters in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture. He was visiting the northeastern prefecture to take a firsthand look at progress in reconstruction from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The government has designated fiscal 2016-2020 as a period for the reconstruction and revitalization of disaster areas after a five-year intensive reconstruction period.

Abe welcomed an agricultural corporation set up by young people in Higashimatsushima after the disaster, praising it as "a very model of regional revitalization." He added, "We'll continue to support livelihood reconstruction with full force."

Earlier on Thursday, Abe visited a fishery processing company in Ishinomaki, a coastal city of Miyagi, and toured its plant and a nursery school on its premises.

In Higashimatsushima, the prime minister tasted a cucumber and grape tomatoes at the agricultural corporation. At the city hall, he met with support personnel dispatched from local governments across Japan and encouraged them.

Abe also offered flowers in front of a monument to disaster victims in a park in the city.

It was his 38th visit to areas affected by the March 2011 disaster and the first since he traveled to Fukushima Prefecture in March. Jiji Press