May 13, 2016
At least 20 welfare service providers in quake-stricken Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, are facing the danger of subsidy reductions.
Those providers are operating community workshops where physically or mentally disabled persons work together. The central government pays subsidies to the workshop operators according to the number of users’ work days, which amount to about 6,000 yen per user per day. With the government grants, workshop owners cover personnel costs.
In mid-April, major earthquakes with a magnitude of 6-7 struck Kumamoto. As the aftershocks continued, many disabled people in Kumamoto City and its surrounding municipalities were unable to go to their workshops.
A tofu-making workshop in Kumamoto City has seven staff members and 26 disabled users. As the users could not come to the workshop during the latter half of April, the facility owner is ineligible to receive the subsidies for this period of time. If this situation continues, the staff members’ wages for April will be cut in half.
The tofu workshop operator, Shinohara Ken’ichi, 44, said, “Even after the quakes occurred, all staffers have worked hard.” They have been busy every day ascertaining users’ safety, leading them to evacuation shelters, and helping them adjust to living there.
In response to an Akahata inquiry, a Kumamoto City government official in charge of giving state subsidies said, “From an institutional viewpoint, it is impossible to provide grants without any record of users’ work days. And I don’t know how to deal with this matter in case of a disaster because we’ve received no instructions from the national government.”
In early May, the Kumamoto branch of the national federation of welfare workshops (Kyosaren) submitted written requests to the Kumamoto prefectural and Kumamoto city governments. They demanded that subsidies not be reduced, stressing that the personnel, while they themselves are suffering from the disaster, are working hard to support the lives of the disabled.
Past related article:
> JCP strives hard to relieve victims of earthquakes in Kyushu [April 19, 2016]
Those providers are operating community workshops where physically or mentally disabled persons work together. The central government pays subsidies to the workshop operators according to the number of users’ work days, which amount to about 6,000 yen per user per day. With the government grants, workshop owners cover personnel costs.
In mid-April, major earthquakes with a magnitude of 6-7 struck Kumamoto. As the aftershocks continued, many disabled people in Kumamoto City and its surrounding municipalities were unable to go to their workshops.
A tofu-making workshop in Kumamoto City has seven staff members and 26 disabled users. As the users could not come to the workshop during the latter half of April, the facility owner is ineligible to receive the subsidies for this period of time. If this situation continues, the staff members’ wages for April will be cut in half.
The tofu workshop operator, Shinohara Ken’ichi, 44, said, “Even after the quakes occurred, all staffers have worked hard.” They have been busy every day ascertaining users’ safety, leading them to evacuation shelters, and helping them adjust to living there.
In response to an Akahata inquiry, a Kumamoto City government official in charge of giving state subsidies said, “From an institutional viewpoint, it is impossible to provide grants without any record of users’ work days. And I don’t know how to deal with this matter in case of a disaster because we’ve received no instructions from the national government.”
In early May, the Kumamoto branch of the national federation of welfare workshops (Kyosaren) submitted written requests to the Kumamoto prefectural and Kumamoto city governments. They demanded that subsidies not be reduced, stressing that the personnel, while they themselves are suffering from the disaster, are working hard to support the lives of the disabled.
Past related article:
> JCP strives hard to relieve victims of earthquakes in Kyushu [April 19, 2016]
