September 28, 2007

As part of the effort to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by major earthquakes that recently hit Japan, Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers from both houses requested that the current Natural Disaster Victims Relief Law be revised so that direct financial assistance to earthquake victims can be extended to the rebuilding of houses.

Takahashi Chizuko, JCP Disaster Prevention Task Force chair, on September 27 handed an 8-point proposal to Disaster Management and Food Safety Minister Izumi Shin’ya.

The JCP calls for the law to be revised so that state subsidies will be applied to victims’ payments for rebuilding, buying, and repairing their houses. It also proposes that the law should be applied not only to victims of disasters after 2007, but that such relief measures should also be extended to victims of disasters that occurred before 2007. The JCP demands that the upper limit of the amount of financial assistance to each household be raised to 5 million yen.

Takahashi said to the minister, “Disaster victims now need state financial assistance that covers payments for rebuilding their houses,” and urged the government to revise the law to include compensation for the loss of personal property.

Minister Izumi said, “The biggest problem now is that the current law does not effectively meet the urgent needs of victims.”