Japan to designate Typhoon Faxai as severe disaster

September 20, 2019

Tokyo--The Japanese government decided Friday on a plan to designate heavy rain damage in August and September, chiefly damage from Typhoon Faxai, as an extremely severe disaster warranting additional state support for affected areas.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed his cabinet ministers, at a meeting on the same day, to start preparations for the designation.

The government will announce the designation shortly, after inspecting the extent of damage in affected areas.

"We'll put all our effort into restoration work to get electricity and water back as soon as possible," Abe said to the ministers.

The designation will push up the proportion of costs for affected municipalities' reconstruction projects to be covered by state subsidies.

Typhoon Faxai, the 15th typhoon of the year, made landfall in the Kanto region, including Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Sept. 9.

Separately, Ryota Takeda, minister for disaster management, said Friday that the government plans to grant the localized serious disaster designation to the town of Kyonan in Chiba, where many small companies suffered damage from the typhoon, to financially support such companies' reconstruction.

Furthermore, the government hopes to use state funds to help affected people pay costs for repairs to the roofs of their houses. While such work is not covered by state assistance provided under the disaster relief law, the central government will consider financially backing local municipalities that subsidize, under their own support measures, repair expenses for partially damaged houses.

Also on Friday, the internal affairs ministry said it will allocate ahead of schedule a total of 6,860 million yen as part of ordinary tax grants for November to 25 typhoon-hit municipalities in Chiba and a heavy rain-hit town in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The municipalities will receive the funds on Tuesday next week. Jiji Press