Even after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, only an estimated 82 percent of homes in Japan were deemed quake resistant in 2013, a 3-percentage point increase over a five-year period, the land ministry said.
Even after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, only an estimated 82 percent of homes in Japan were deemed quake resistant in 2013, a 3-percentage point increase over a five-year period, the land ministry said.
Although the ministry set a national target for quake-resistant homes at 90 percent in 2015, the estimate casts doubts on the feasibility of achieving such a goal.
In line with stricter quake-resistance standards, about 9 million homes were not quake resistant two years ago, according to the latest estimate.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism calculates the rate of quake-resistant housing using the government’s housing and land survey, which takes place every five years. The results of the survey for 2013 were confirmed in February.
Based on the standards implemented in 1981, the ministry deemed homes constructed before 1981 that do not meet the standards and have not undergone quake resistance modifications as “not quake resistant.” Those that underwent quake-resistance renovations or meet the new standards are deemed “quake resistant.”
In 2013, about 43 million of 52 million homes in Japan, or 82 percent, including apartment buildings, were thought to be quake resistant. That represents a mere 3-percentage point rise from the 2008 estimate, when about 79 percent were deemed quake resistant, even after the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 raised earthquake awareness across the nation.
Over the five-year period, about 1.05 million homes met the standards after they were rebuilt and about 250,000 homes rendered quake resistant following quake-resistant renovation work.
However, the number of homes which underwent renovations to improve quake resistance over the same period dropped by 50,000 from the period between 2003 and 2008, when 300,000 homes underwent such work.
The ministry said the fewer number of homes that underwent quake-resistance work is attributable to the slumping Japanese economy and costs that were felt too massive to be shouldered, mainly by elderly households.
Quake-resistant homes are thought to be the most effective measure to reduce the number of deaths in an earthquake, excluding tsunami. The government has set a targeted rate of quake-resistant homes “at 90 percent, at the lowest, by 2015 and 95 percent, at the lowest, by 2020.”