Great East Japan Earthquake: Update on damage and recovery (2nd report)

Update

• It has been nearly four weeks since the "Great Eastern Japan Earthquake" (official name of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami) devastated numerous small towns and communities along the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan. Record, as of April 4, shows 12,344 people dead and 15,237 people missing. These figures may still change in the next few days.

• About 163 thousand displaced people, staying at the evacuation centers, are still under harsh living conditions Some of them are temporarily conditions. moving to less disaster-affected areas. Recovery and rebuilding in disaster‐affected areas has been progressing. In Rikuzen‐Takata city of Iwate Prefecture, 36 temporary housing units were completed on March 31 since it first started on March 19. Currently, about 4,000 temporary housing units are being constructed, which is much lesser than required number. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has been cooperating with disaster affected prefectures and housing companies to further provide the necessary temporary housing units to the displaced people.

• Massive amounts of debris are still blocking the roads in affected areas, hampering the delivery of assistance to some evacuation centers. Removal or cleanup of debris remains an imminent issue.

• Government at different at levels has started preparing appropriate measures for full‐scale recovery and rebuilding, including the first supplementary budget proposal and bills to be submitted to the Diet (Parliament) shortly.