Mobile Temp Housing Sought for Hokkaido Quake Victims

September 19, 2018

Chitose, Hokkaido- Calls are growing for an early introduction of mobile temporary housing for people affected by a recent powerful earthquake that rocked the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido.

The Okayama Prefecture city of Kurashiki, which was among western Japan areas hit hardest by downpours in July, has introduced mobile temporary housing, marking the first use of such makeshift residences in Japan under the country's disaster relief law.

After deciding to introduce 50 mobile housing units that can be transported on trailer trucks, the municipal government of Kurashiki began to offer them to victims of the rain disaster on Sept. 8, ahead of constructed makeshift housing.

Archivision21, a homebuilder in Hokkaido, provided 40 of the 50 units. The wooden structures offer high thermal insulation and are thus suitable for use in cold regions, like Hokkaido, according to the firm.

Mobile housing units, produced at factories, are made ready for users more quickly than construction-type housing, the company said, adding that they are more economical because they can be reused repeatedly without being dismantled.

The firm is based in the city of Chitose, close to the town of Atsuma, which was hit hard by the 6.7-magnitude Hokkaido quake on Sept. 6. "Having experience in Kurashiki, we can shorten the time for delivering our mobile housing" to municipalities affected by the temblor, an Archivision21 official said.

The quake measured the highest level of 7 on Japan's seismic intensity scale in Atsuma.

Rikkyo University Prof. Toshinari Nagasaka, a disaster risk management expert, said, "With the winter approaching, providing people affected by the quake with both mobile and construction-type temporary housing is an effective way of supporting them."

Nagasaka helped Kurashiki introduce the mobile temporary housing. Jiji Press