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The Mainichi
a day ago
- Business
- The Mainichi
Local gov'ts in Japan providing 'rice aid' in vouchers, real grain, amid high prices
TOKYO -- Local governments in Japan are carrying out "rice aid" programs for residents amid soaring rice prices, mostly using national subsidies designated to address rising costs as resources. The Hokkaido Prefectural Government will hand out vouchers or digital coupons worth 5,240 yen (about $36) to purchase rice and milk, or distribute 5.5 kilograms of locally produced rice to each of some 390,000 households with children. The prefecture is accepting applications until the end of June. The city of Kameoka in Kyoto Prefecture will hand out 5 kg of Japanese rice each to all children aged up to 18 in the city (roughly 12,500), as well as coupons worth 8,000 yen (about $56) that can be used at local shops in the city. The city of Fukui will distribute 5,000-yen (approx. $35) vouchers for locally grown rice to some 24,000 families with children. The amount will be increased to 8,000 yen for single-parent households. The Hitachi Municipal Government in Ibaraki Prefecture will send out 4,400-yen (about $31) rice certificates to around 11,000 families with children. The Osaka Prefectural Government has been carrying out a program to provide children aged 18 and younger and pregnant women with digital coupons or food items worth 7,000 yen (roughly $49). The prefecture announced in early June that the age bracket will be expanded to include those aged 19 to 22. Meanwhile, some municipal governments include all residents and households for aid programs. The city of Chichibu in Saitama Prefecture will distribute rice certificates to all 26,000 households in the city. The amount ranges depending on the number of household members: those with one to three members will receive certificates worth 2,200 yen (approx. $15) and those with four or more 3,080 yen (about $21). The city plans to send them out around late August. The Toki Municipal Government in Gifu Prefecture will send out 4,400-yen rice vouchers per household to all of the city's roughly 24,700 households, while Ehime Prefecture's city of Imabari will hand out rice certificates worth 2,200 yen each to the city's approximately 147,000 residents. Many of the local governments are asking their residents not to resell these vouchers online.
The Mainichi
05-06-2025
- Climate
- The Mainichi
7,500 in Hokkaido's coastal communities could die in M7 quake: prefectural estimate
SAPPORO -- Up to some 7,500 people in 33 municipalities along the Sea of Japan coast of Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido could perish in the event of a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake, the prefectural government announced June 3. The Hokkaido Prefectural Government is pressing local governments to strategize ways to minimize casualties, as the earthquake faults are close to land and evacuations would be tricky. Hokkaido's government in 2022 estimated that a major quake on the Pacific Ocean side of the prefecture would claim up to 149,000 lives, based on damage estimates for the area released the previous year by the national government. The latest projection was developed by a working group of the prefecture's disaster mitigation team, which had been considering the issue since September 2023. Fifteen faults on the Sea of Japan side were included in the data, divided into a total of 90 scenarios based on whether the quake would strike in the daytime, evening or late at night and during winter or summer -- factors which greatly affect evacuations and other conditions. Basic Resident Register data from 2020 was used, and the tsunami height was based on figures given by the prefecture in 2017. Estimates of human casualties were based on two scenarios: 20% evacuating immediately and 70% doing so. The results showed an estimated 7,500 deaths if the quake were to occur along a fault running from the region off the southwestern coast of Hokkaido to the area off western Aomori Prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, late at night in winter, with most caused by the tsunami. In terms of material damage, the most destructive scenario would come from a quake occurring along a fault off the northwest coast of Hokkaido that extends inland in the evening or late at night in winter, when snow accumulates. It was estimated that about 16,000 buildings would be destroyed in such a scenario. By municipality, the most deaths are expected in the city of Wakkanai in northern Hokkaido, with approx. 4,070 in the scenario of a quake along the fault off Hokkaido's northwest during summer in the daytime. The village of Shimamaki was projected to see around 1,200 deaths during a Hokkaido southwest offshore fault quake occurring late at night in the winter -- more than 80% of the total population. The town of Rebun, village of Kamoenai and town of Okushiri were also projected to see fatalities exceeding 50% of the total population. Shigeyuki Okada, a visiting professor in earthquake planning affiliated with the Center of Natural Hazards Research at Hokkaido University, who chaired the working group, said Hokkaido's Sea of Japan coast has geographic characteristics that make quick evacuations difficult, with national highways extending along the coastline, settlements formed along national roads, steep cliffs approaching the coast and tsunamis that would reach the coast in a few minutes. As the assumptions did not consider tsunami evacuation towers, detailed evacuation routes or other factors, earlier evacuation is said to be possible. Securing nearby high ground or other escape routes and creating evacuation plans for individual residents would improve outcomes. Even so, Okada said that evacuating certain groups such as children and the elderly remains difficult and that the long-term measure of moving communities to higher ground is necessary. While the national government's data pins the probability of an earthquake on the Sea of Japan coast in the 0 to 0.1% range, Okada emphasized that people should prepare as if it could happen sometime. The prefectural government will develop disaster mitigation plans based on these numbers. Damage estimates for the remaining Sea of Okhotsk coastline will also be readied.
