Although there has been progress in post-disaster reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake, it is still incomplete. It is vital to secure a system to support the disaster-hit areas.
The Cabinet has decided to maintain the Reconstruction Agency -- established to operate for a limited period of 10 years after the quake disaster -- for another 10 years from March 2021 onward. The main purpose of the continuation is to provide assistance to Fukushima Prefecture. It is understandable for the central government to move to the fore in the rehabilitation of areas affected by the accident at the nuclear power plant.
Established in 2012, the agency is under the direct control of the prime minister and comprises about 500 staffers, most of whom were temporarily assigned from other ministries and agencies. It has mapped out reconstruction policies and made comprehensive requests for related funding.
The agency's "one-stop service" in which various requests for advice or consultation can be accepted at one governmental office has been highly praised by local governments. The agency can been seen to have assumed the role of gathering requests from disaster-affected areas.
The agency should continue solidly fulfilling its role as the control tower for rehabilitation of the disaster-hit areas, while driving out any ill effects of bureaucratic sectionalism of ministries and agencies.
In step with the latest extension of its operations, the agency has come to assume an additional function of sharing the knowhow that it has accumulated with local governments and related organizations.
In recent years, disasters caused by typhoons and torrential rain, in addition to earthquakes, have occurred repeatedly all over the country. The experience gained by the agency should be utilized for the rehabilitation of areas affected by various disasters.
In addition to the Reconstruction Agency, the Cabinet Office is currently in charge of national policies to cope with disasters. The more than 90 staff in charge at the Cabinet Office handle such tasks as predicting the damage from massive quakes like one expected in the Nankai Trough and one that would strike directly beneath Tokyo, and drawing up related disaster-prevention plans.
There was a proposal within the ruling coalition parties to establish a "disaster-prevention and reconstruction agency" to respond to natural disasters in general, rather than just an extended operation of the Reconstruction Agency, which specializes in dealing with the damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
But the establishment of a new ministry or agency is expected to have rough going, as it would lead to the reorganization of ministries, involving such bodies as the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. Depending on how the reorganization is carried out, it could be like building a roof over a roof. Wouldn't it be realistic, for the time being, to have the Reconstruction Agency and the Cabinet Office assume the relevant tasks as under the current system?
With the passage of 8-1/2 years since the massive quake, the number of evacuees, which totaled as many as 470,000 people at its peak, now stands at less than 50,000. Foundations are being laid for the restored living conditions of people in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, both stricken by tsunami.
The rehabilitation projects related to these prefectures are aimed to be completed within the next five years. In addition to measures related to various forms of tangible goods, assistance related to people, such as providing mental care to disaster-affected people, should be steadily moved forward.
In fiscal 2025 -- the fifth year of the agency's extended period of operation -- the government is expected to reconsider what the Reconstruction Agency should be like as an organization. It is important to properly review the agency so it will be appropriate to the scale of assistance needed, while taking into account the status of rehabilitation in the disaster-affected areas, centering around the three prefectures in the Tohoku region.
-- This article appeared in the print version of The Yomiuri Shimbun on Dec. 31, 2019.
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