Population drain confirmed

March 09, 2015

Population drain continues in 20 disaster-hit municipalities: Mainichi survey

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150309p2a00m0na013000c.html

Nearly 5,000 households in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures that lost their homes to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami have resettled in municipalities outside their hometown, a Mainichi Shimbun survey has shown.

The survey found that at least 4,865 households in 20 municipalities in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures have relocated to other municipalities for resettlement -- accounting for 23 percent of households in the three prefectures that have already resettled in the wake of the quake disaster, and 10 percent of households that have lost their homes to the disaster.

The survey is based on figures tallied by the 20 municipal governments in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures. Among them, 15 municipalities that had also kept a tally last year have found a 2 percentage point hike in the ratio of disaster victims relocating to other municipalities this year, indicating a continued population outflow in disaster-hit areas.

The Mainichi conducted a questionnaire in January and February in municipalities in the three prefectures that were severely affected by the March 2011 tsunami, apart from municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture where blanket evacuation orders are in place. The survey asked the number of households that have applied for subsidies for resettling in municipalities outside their hometown.

Under the Act on Support for Reconstructing Livelihoods of Disaster Victims, residents who had their completely or partially destroyed homes demolished can apply for up to 1 million yen in basic grants with their home municipalities, and residents who purchase, repair or rent homes after evacuation can apply for up to 2 million yen in additional grants. The Mainichi asked the 20 municipal governments -- 11 in Iwate, seven in Miyagi and two in Fukushima -- for the number of households that applied for additional grants and how many of them have applied for resettling in other municipalities.

As a result, it emerged that a total of 47,849 households had applied for basic grants this year, with 20,927 of them having also applied for additional grants. Among the latter group, 4,865 households had relocated to municipalities outside their hometown. Cities including Sendai and Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture -- which enjoy a stable population influx -- have not maintained such statistics.

The Miyagi Prefecture town of Onagawa had the highest percentage of households that chose to resettle elsewhere, at 73 percent, followed by the prefectural town of Minamisanriku at 49 percent. Both municipalities suffered extensive damage across the towns, and delays in housing land development and other measures are apparently behind the population drain.

In the 15 municipalities that had also kept a tally last year, the number of households that applied for additional subsidies increased by 20 percent to 14,963 this year, of which the ratio of households resettling in other municipalities rose from 22 percent to 24 percent this year -- or 2,690 households to 3,540 households, respectively.