Preserving Hiroshima Dome

August 8, 2015

A-bombed structures to be preserved using health ministry subsidies

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201508080031

By ANANDA KOKUMAI/ Staff Writer

HIROSHIMA--Hiroshima and Nagasaki are to get central government funding to preserve structures damaged by the 1945 atomic bombings so as to remind future generations of the "inhumanity of nuclear weapons."

Funds will be made available by the health ministry's financial assistance program for memorials to atomic bomb victims in the two cities that were leveled 70 years ago this month.

The decision was made because the number of people who experienced the disasters firsthand is waning and the government does not want future generations to have nothing to remind them of the tragedies.

It will be the first time that the central government has provided full-fledged financial support to repair structures, mainly buildings and bridges, damaged by the atomic bombings and from subsequent aging.

The Hiroshima city government is registering structures at 86 locations within a radius of five kilometers from ground zero as those damaged by atomic bombings. If those structures receive subsidies from the ministry, the city government’s financial burden for repairs will be drastically reduced.

It will also become possible for the city government to increase financial assistance to organizations or individuals that possess or manage those structures. At present, the city government is offering 75 percent of the repair costs with the upper limit set at 30 million yen (about $241,500).

The city government started offering financial assistance for the preservation of those structures in fiscal 1993. Since then, it granted a total of about 220 million yen to 22 projects up until fiscal 2014.

However, the owners of some structures have decided to dismantle them because the financial burden to maintain them is so high. So far, structures in 17 locations have been torn down.

Meanwhile, the Nagasaki city government is registering structures at 53 locations for preservation. Just like Hiroshima, Nagasaki is also providing subsidies to organizations or individuals in the private sector.