About 1,400 households in nine coastal areas in Miyagi Prefecture that were pummeled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami are considering shifting en masse to inland parts of the prefecture, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.
Many of the households' rice and vegetable fields suffered extensive salt damage due to the massive tsunami, and many of the residents remain terrified that another tsunami could strike the region.
The nine areas are in four coastal cities. About 180 of the households from three of the areas--Higashi-Matsushima, Natori and Kesennuma--have already decided to relocate.
These households hope to take advantage of a Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry project to facilitate the relocation of disaster-stricken residents, using national government subsidies. The four city governments and the prefectural government intend to support the envisaged relocation. On April 11, about 50 households in the Yamototatenuma district of Higashi-Matsuhima unanimously decided to move. Eighteen Yamototatenuma residents died in the disaster, which destroyed or damaged almost every house in the farming district. Plastic greenhouses and farm equipment were swept away. Large tracts of farmland remain submerged by seawater. A 72-year-old farmer whose two hectares of land, including rice paddies, in Yamototatenuma suffered salt damage was willing to make a new start inland. "I don't know when I'll be able to restart farming here. If I can relocate with my neighbors to an area inland, I want to find some unused land and make a living there," he said. In Natori, 107 households in the Kitakama district, which is home to many vegetable farmers, have agreed to shift collectively. Board members of a neighborhood association in the district visited the Natori city office on April 17 and told city officials about two candidate sites--with fertile land ideal for farming--they had found elsewhere in Natori. The city has not decided how to select candidate sites suitable for households wishing to relocate. Kitakama residents will need to coordinate with the city and land owners about finding new places to live. In Karakuwacho in Kesennuma, 26 nonfarming households want to relocate to higher ground. A 54-year-old Karakuwacho resident said he wants to relocate to an area where he will not have to worry about tsunami. In addition to the about 180 households that have already agreed to relocate collectively, about 600 households in four districts in Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, are considering moving together. The residents' plan has been viewed with an open mind by local governments. "We'll consider the matter positively and give due consideration to their wishes," an official of Higashi-Matsushima said. Kesennuma Mayor Shigeru Sugawara was even more supportive, saying, "We should go ahead with the group relocation of local settlements." In recognition of the intention of these households, the Miyagi prefectural government has asked the central government to raise the percentage of subsidies provided by the land ministry for promoting group relocations for disaster prevention. The central government gives subsidies to municipalities to encourage residents to relocate collectively from areas that are dangerous to live in. The central government pays three-fourths of the costs of preparing land for new buildings, and municipalities pay the remainder. But at a recent meeting of the central government's panel on reconstruction, Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai advanced the idea of using proposed special zones for post-quake reconstruction--in which residents in quake-hit areas would be aided through tax benefits and various deregulatory measures--to support people wishing to relocate. A land ministry official in charge of disaster prevention said, "We'll handle the matter flexibly, and give priority to the livability of quake-hit municipalities." After the 2004 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake, the central government applied the subsidies to help residents relocate from affected areas. A total of 135 households in Nagaoka, Ojiya and other cities in Niigata Prefecture were relocated due to the danger of landslides.
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