Western Japan Heavy Rain Designated as Extraordinary Disaster

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)--Japan's cabinet on Saturday designated floods and mudslides from recent torrential rain that mainly hit western regions of the country as an extraordinary disaster under a relevant special law. The move came as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed the designation at the day's meeting of the government's disaster response headquarters established following the heavy rain. The designation will allow affected people to receive special administrative benefits, such as an extension of the validity of a driver's license and business permits for restaurants and other shops. The rain disaster has left 200 people dead and many others missing. It is the first time that heavy rain damage has been designated as an extraordinary disaster under the special law, which was established after the January 1995 earthquake in Kobe, the capital of the western prefecture of Hyogo, and nearby areas, which killed more than 6,400 people and injured over 43,000 others. Previously such designation was made for the 1995 temblor, the October 2004 quake in the Chuetsu region in the central prefecture of Niigata, the March 2011 quake and tsunami mainly in the Tohoku northeastern region, and the April 2016 quakes in the southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto and surrounding areas. The law covers disasters that leave a number of people dead or missing, and cause other extremely serious damage. At the headquarters meeting, Abe also showed a plan to send more central and local government staff workers to areas stricken by the rain disaster to help accelerate work to issue to affected people disaster victim certificates, which are required for moving into temporary housing. He also said that consultation services for legal problems related to the disaster will be made available for free. "We'll do all we can to reconstruct damaged communities and rebuild the lives of people in disaster areas as soon as possible," Abe said, stressing the importance of promoting the reconstruction work by appropriately responding to affected residents' needs. Abe said that he will visit Hiroshima Prefecture, one of the hardest-hit areas, on Sunday. END