Japan Press Weekly

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2016 May 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

Lower House passes supplementary budget drafted to help victims of Kumamoto quakes

The FY2016 supplementary budget bill, which provides a budget of 778 billion yen to fund the reconstruction work in the Kumamoto earthquake-hit areas, was passed by a unanimous vote on May 16 in a plenary session of the House of Representatives, and sent to the House of Councilors.

In a Lower House Budget Committee meeting discussion held prior to the vote, Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Fujino Yasufumi called for an improvement in the state subsidy program for the reconstruction of houses.

Based on the JCP’s day-to-day relief activities in the disaster-hit areas, Fujino pointed out, “Housing reconstruction is not only a matter of individuals, but also a matter of the revitalization of local communities.” He demanded that the government increase the upper limit of the housing reconstruction subsidy from the current three million yen to five million yen.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo showed his acknowledgement of the importance to support those who lost their homes, but he turned down Fujino’s demand by saying that when providing subsidies, the government needs to maintain its impartiality between victims of the latest disaster and ones in the past.

Citing the fact that 32 prefectural governments have a system to add extra money to the state subsidy to help disaster victims rebuild their houses, Fujino countered Abe insisting that the raised upper limit of the subsidy would favor the victims of the Kumamoto disaster over disaster victims in the past. He noted that PM Abe had said that he would do all he can do to help the sufferers. Fujino stressed that Abe should raise the upper limit of financial support.

Fujino also pointed out that disaster-hit municipalities would have to pay a huge cost for reconstruction work. He called on the national government to entirely cover the cost. In reply, PM Abe said that affected municipalities will not shoulder excessively large financial burdens.