One year after the March 11 quake and tsunami, about 260,000 people in the stricken Tohoku region are still living in temporary housing, and the urgency is growing to secure them permanent places to call home.
One year after the March 11 quake and tsunami, about 260,000 people in the stricken Tohoku region are still living in temporary housing, and the urgency is growing to secure them permanent places to call home.
Of the 260,000 displaced victims, 110,000 live in prefabricated units and the rest in what is “deemed temporary housing” such as public housing units.
These evacuees need to prepare for eventual relocation as their temporary housing is only available to them for two years. However, many hurdles remain, such as where their new homes will be situated and obtaining financing.
Residents have been trying to iron out their differences as more details of rebuilding plans emerge, but the task is not easy.
In Wakabayashi Ward in Sendai, capital of Miyagi Prefecture, one of the three prefectures hardest hit by the disaster, two groups of former residents in the tsunami-ravaged Arahama district remain pitted against each other.
One group is seeking collective relocation to a new site. The other side is pushing for rebuilding of members' homes where they were sited before the disaster.
Both sides have met weekly since summer, but they have failed to bridge the gap.
Meetings on plans for rebuilding homes are under way in many parts of the affected region, but reaching a consensus is proving to be an exacting task.
Residents’ opinions vary, depending on their earnings, savings and if they can obtain financing.
The government will pick up the tab for preparing land for building in upland and inner land areas that are recommended to minimize damage from tsunami in the future.
But survivors will have to pay for the construction of their homes.
The cost of renting the land for their new homes will be exempted or discounted, depending on the location. If the new owners want to own the land their homes are situated on, they will have to pay for them.
In a city such as Sendai, where land prices are high, owning land and a home is expected to cost up to 30 million yen ($368,400). For a home on rented land, the cost is estimated at 10 million yen.
If survivors enroll in a state program designed to encourage collective relocation to locations deemed safer, local governments will buy the land they own in the devastated districts.
Some municipalities have announced purchase prices, but residents are complaining that they are only between 50 percent and 90 percent of the appraised value of their land before the disaster.
Along with the drop in value, building restrictions put in place in the ravaged areas is another source of discontent.
Those who want to remain living near the coastal areas, such as fishermen, have shown resistance to the new restrictions to be imposed.
The city governments of Miyako and Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture have begun considering letting residents choose from two options: the affected districts whose land will be filled and raised to lessen the danger of future tsunami; or new locations.
In Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, the city government is drawing up a plan to trade devastated residential land near the coast for farmland in inner parts of the city to build a new residential zone with roads and parks.
But survivors will still have to shoulder the financial burden for building new homes.
That is expected to raise the number of people who want to live in public housing and who are giving up purchasing new homes, local officials say.
The prefectural government of Iwate has set an initial housing target of 17,000 units. As a first step, it plans to build 4,000 to 5,000 public housing units by fiscal 2013.
The goal for Miyagi Prefecture is 72,000 units, including 12,000 public housing units by fiscal 2015.
In Fukushima Prefecture, a new zone to restrict construction is expected to be designated around the embattled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in April.
Prefectural officials say they will decide the number of public housing units to be constructed after surveying the preferences of residents from the restricted area.