Schools must be better equipped to handle disasters
Many schools were used as evacuation centers in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Three months on from the March 11 disaster, evacuees still remain at more than 100 such facilities.Schools become "fortresses" for children and community residents in times of emergency. To prepare for the massive earthquakes expected to eventually occur in the Tokai region and elsewhere, it is necessary to strengthen the earthquake-resistance and antidisaster functions of school buildings.
More than 6,000 public schools were damaged in the March 11 disaster, with much of the serious damage caused by tsunami that followed the massive earthquake. There have been no confirmed cases of students, teachers and other school staff being killed as a result of school buildings collapsing due to the earthquake.
Since the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, local governments have strengthened the earthquake resistance of school buildings and gymnasiums built before old quake-resistance standards were revised in 1981. Structures were rebuilt or reinforced, and these efforts can be said to have been effective to a certain degree.
But even if the projects to bolster quake resistance that are included in this fiscal year's first supplementary budget are implemented, 17,400 school buildings will be left untouched. That is 14 percent of the national total of public primary, middle and high schools.
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Ministry sets 2015 target
Last month, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry set fiscal 2015 as its target for finishing projects to reinforce quake resistance at public primary and middle schools. The projects must be moved up as much as possible so that all the schools can be fitted to better resist earthquakes by the target year.
The latest disaster revealed school buildings' deficiencies as evacuation centers.
Evacuees were forced to spend restless nights in darkness caused by power outages. With no protection from the cold, some wrapped classroom curtains around their bodies to warm themselves. Fixed-line phone services were cut, so many schools could not contact the outside world.
It is necessary to study such measures as the installation of in-house power generators and water storage tanks, stockpiling blankets and emergency food supplies, and the installation of satellite mobile phones.
Some school gymnasiums could not be used as shelters because their ceilings collapsed. We ask all schools to conduct safety inspections even of such nonstructural elements as ceilings, walls and windowpanes.
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Make schools safer refuges
A future challenge is how to improve schools' functions as antidisaster centers in local communities.
For example, it would be effective if schools in coastal areas were mid to high-rise reinforced concrete buildings to which residents can escape from tsunami.
Other measures include adopting more barrier-free designs to make it easier for elderly and physically disabled evacuees to use the facilities, and building welfare facilities near school buildings so elderly people can have peace of mind at all times.
It is essential for government offices, which have jurisdiction over education, welfare and disaster prevention, to break with the conventional concept of vertically divided administration and work together to display their ingenuity.
Politicians, bureaucrats must be on same side for rebuilding
A key legislative step has come, albeit belatedly, almost three months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.The bill for a basic law that stipulates guiding principles and a fundamental framework for disaster reconstruction work cleared the House of Representatives at long last Friday after joint modifications by three major parties: the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. The bill likely will become law next week.
Talks among the three parties over the modifications had been bogged down. The agreement was reached due to the fact that the government and the DPJ swallowed almost every demand the LDP and New Komeito made. We applaud the ruling and opposition parties for getting in step to get the bill passed despite the "divided Diet" in which the opposition bloc controls the House of Councillors and the ruling camp holds sway in the lower chamber.
The DPJ should make further concessions to opposition parties to ensure they cooperate with legislative matters.
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Avoid administrative overlap
A pillar of the basic law is the creation of a "reconstruction implementation headquarters." This will involve the prime minister and all other cabinet members laying out a framework for effectively implementing reconstruction projects by mobilizing all government ministries and agencies.
If a set of bills related to the basic law passes the legislature next year, a "reconstruction agency" will be launched to replace the current disaster countermeasures headquarters. The agency will work out and implement an overall plan to rebuild disaster-ravaged areas.
The envisioned agency should be truly efficient and have its powers and authority clearly defined to prevent overlap with other government entities.
A crucial question will be how this agency makes use of bureaucrats' knowledge and experience.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, in his response to the earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis, set up one committee after another, causing confusion in the administrative chain-of-command. Government support for disaster-stricken areas has been insufficient, removal of debris has been woefully slow and construction of temporary housing is not proceeding as quickly as it should.
It is imperative that the restoration and reconstruction of disaster-devastated areas moves full-steam ahead by uniting politicians and bureaucrats under the direction of a "reconstruction minister" to be appointed when the basic reconstruction law is enacted.
Regarding revenue sources for funding rebuilding projects, the basic reconstruction law will quite rightly incorporate clear-cut clauses calling for the issuance of "reconstruction bonds" and describing how the bonds can be redeemed.
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Bold, innovative ideas needed
Financing reconstruction programs, however, is expected to require a massive budget. The ruling and opposition camps must consider how to secure revenue to fund this, including possibly raising the consumption tax rate, which would impose a relatively light financial burden on a wide spectrum of people.
The bill of the basic law also calls for creating a "special reconstruction promotion district system" through which deregulatory measures and tax breaks would be introduced in designated areas. This should generate bold, innovative ideas that support reconstruction efforts.
At an upper house Budget Committee session Friday, Kan suggested he intended to stay in office until at least mid-August. LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki, however, has insisted that Kan's resignation is a "prerequisite" for his party to cooperate with the government on post-disaster reconstruction.
Having a prime minister who has announced he will step down but remains in office will stall not only reconstruction but also the entire administration. We think Kan should resign once the basic reconstruction bill is enacted.
Horse-trading in the DPJ over who should replace Kan has begun. This nation's next leader should be someone competent enough to earn the confidence of the opposition bloc and the bureaucracy.
Dated-12/06/2011
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