EXCLUSIVE: More Noto Residents Opting to Demolish Homes over Repair

Kanazawa, Ishikawa Pref., Nov. 6 (Jiji Press)–The number of people who decided to repair their homes damaged by last year’s earthquake and heavy rain that hit the Noto Peninsula in central Japan is half that of those who opted to demolish their homes altogether, Jiji Press learned Thursday. Some 22,500 homes were completely or half destroyed in the disasters in the northern part of the peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. Residents filed applications to demolish 11,796 of such homes at public expense as of late October this year, while residents of 5,809 homes decided to apply for an emergency house repair program under which local governments cover part of the repair fees. Owners of a home completely or half destroyed can choose between the emergency repair program and the public expense home demolition program. The prefectural government had a goal of completing home demolition at public expense at the end of October. Many people who chose to demolish their homes said that fixing them would have been much costlier than tearing them down at public expense, which does not require out-of-pocket payment. Others also said that they did not want to leave behind an abandoned home to their children. “There are houses that are being demolished that could actually still be lived in if they were repaired,” said Kazuhiro Higashi, who heads the Ishikawa branch of the Japan Kominka Association, which has provided consultations for over 500 cases on disaster-hit homes on behalf of the prefectural government. Applications for the public expense demolition program were closed in August. “There is an increase in the number of cases in which people decide to demolish their homes after running out of time contemplating what they should do,” Higashi said. Kai Nagano, a lawyer who is familiar with support systems for those affected by disasters, said that there are cases in which people reluctantly pick public expense demolition in Noto, an area with a large elderly population, due to difficulties in fixing their homes on their own. “We need a system that provides comprehensive consultation support for rebuilding homes so that disaster-hit people can choose how they live their life,” Nagano said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]