February 10, 2024

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Takahashi Chizuko on February 9 at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting urged the government to take measures to prevent Noto quake victims from being forced to leave secondary evacuation sites such as hotels and inns.

In Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit the hardest by the powerful New Year’s Day earthquake, about 5,000 people are staying at secondary evacuation centers.

Takahashi brought up the issue in which many hotels and inns used as secondary evacuation centers reportedly plan to cease lodging evacuees by the end of February. As a factor, the JCP lawmaker cited the government’s travel discount program aimed at promoting tourism in the quake-affected region between March and April with subsidies equal to 50% of travel expenses up to a maximum of 20,000 yen per person. She said that the government’s tourism promotion measure, in effect, may lead to forcing evacuees out of secondary evacuation sites.

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio stressed the need to implement the tourism promotion campaign as measures to support the quake-hit hotel industry.

Refuting the prime minister, Takahashi pointed out that if the government seeks to support the hotel industry, it should increase its subsidies paid to hotels used as secondary evacuation centers from the current 10,000 yen to 20,000 yen, the same level as the tourism promotion campaign. She called on PM Kishida to take measures to prevent the forced relocation of evacuees from secondary sites.