FOCUS: Progress Slow on Publicly Paid House Demolitions after Noto Quake

   Anamizu/Wajima, Ishikawa Pref., April 23 (Jiji Press)--Applications for publicly funded demolitions of houses damaged by the Noto Peninsula earthquake have been filed for only 30 pct of the houses expected to undergo such work in Ishikawa Prefecture.
   Governments of severely afflicted municipalities could not start accepting applications until this month in the aftermath of the 7.6-magnitude temblor on Jan. 1. Also behind the slow application is that residents who evacuated far away have difficulty going through complicated official procedures to receive the administrative service.
   Roughly 78,000 houses are believed to have been damaged in the central Japan prefecture. Although the prefectural government estimates 22,000 of them are eligible for demolition with public money, only 6,900 applications have been filed so far. As of April 16, as few as three houses had been torn down.
   Usually one house can be dismantled in a week. But unless residents specify household items they will continue to use, demolition work will take longer.
   "We are having a hard time setting dates for residents to be on work sites, because many of them are evacuated," said an official of the Ishikawa prefectural building demolition contractors association.

(2024/04/23-10:00)

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