Nearly 70 percent of public donations sent in the wake of the March earthquake and tsunami have been distributed to people in the Tohoku and other affected areas, according to welfare ministry data.
With ¥227.3 billion of the ¥326.9 billion received by the Japanese Red Cross Society and other aid organizations as of Sept. 30 given out in 15 prefectures, the rate rose from about 50 percent in mid-August, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Wednesday.
Hokkaido and four other prefectures suffering relatively minor damage have already completed the distribution to victims. The rate topped 80 percent in most municipalities in the three hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the ministry said.
But nearly ¥100 billion remains undelivered more than six months after the March 11 disaster, as some areas, particularly Sendai, have yet to confirm the extent of local damage, officials said.
According to the ministry data, aid organizations have so far completed sending ¥290.1 billion to the various prefectures, and of that amount ¥227.3 billion has reached victims.
By prefecture, Miyagi has received ¥140.2 billion, Fukushima ¥92.4 billion and Iwate ¥31.9 billion.
People have received ¥102.2 billion in Miyagi, ¥82.4 billion in Fukushima and ¥25.3 billion in Iwate.
The prefectural governments of Fukushima and Iwate have been forwarding money to municipal governments as soon as they receive it from the aid organizations, with each keeping about ¥100 million in hand.
Miyagi still retains more than ¥30 billion as it remains difficult to estimate the scale of damage in Sendai.
The aid organizations, meanwhile, still have a total of ¥36.8 billion.
They intend to retain about ¥20 billion as reserves to cover newly found damage, an official at the Red Cross said.
In Sendai, more than 210,000 applications have been filed for disaster victim certificates, but the city office continued to receive some 4,000 new applications each week in September.
The city is unlikely to learn the whole extent of the damage by the end of this year as it must first finish issuing such certificates, an official said.
Tougher tsunami zoning
The government has drafted a bill to enhance measures to deal with tsunami following the March 11 Tohoku catastrophe, official sources said.
The bill, which the government plans to submit to an extraordinary Diet session starting later this month, will empower governors to designate "special warning zones" particularly vulnerable to tsunami damage and to recommend that buildings in such zones be relocated.
Anyone building a facility for elderly people or children in such a zone, or any unauthorized structure erected on a site for dikes or seawalls to protect against tsunami, will be punished with imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to ¥500,000.
Governors will also be able to designate less vulnerable "warning zones" where hospitals and social welfare facilities will be required to prepare emergency evacuation plans. Municipalities will directly control private-sector evacuation spaces in these zones.
The designation will be based on coastal geological surveys conducted by prefectures with financial support from the central government.
The Shioyasaki Lighthouse was illuminated on Nov. 30 for the first time since it was damaged in the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
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