Japan Press Weekly

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2011 March 30 - April 5 [GREAT EAST JAPAN DISASTER]

Ichida visits a Nagano village hit by another major quake

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on March 30 visited Sakae Village in Nagano Prefecture stricken by an earthquake of a magnitude 6.7 on the day after the M-9 quake of March 11, and handed disaster relief donations to Village Mayor Shimada Shigeki.

The village is located near the border with Niigata Prefecture. No villagers were killed but three quarters (1,500 villagers) of the population were evacuated on the day. More than 150 houses are sealed off, about 230 people are still staying in evacuation centers, the railway is shut down, and there has been no running water available.

The mayor asked Ichida if the Disaster Relief Act can be improved, and requested that the Natural Disaster Victims Relief Law dramatically increase the amount of aid from the present three million yen per house destroyed by the earthquake.

Ichida responded by saying, “I will take up your requests in the Diet and the joint meetings between the government and political parties, and the JCP will work hard to help realize what you have requested.”

A villager in front of his damaged house said, “I have no idea how much I need for demolition work alone. I can’t sleep because of money worries.” Ichida said to him, “Our party will do our best to increase the financial aid for sufferers and have the aid system pay the amount to cover the demolition cost in full.”