ID :
177475
Sat, 04/23/2011 - 18:22
Auther :

Miyagi governor proposes new entity to promote reconstruction

TOKYO (Kyodo) - Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai on Saturday proposed establishing a new institution linking the state and three prefectures devastated by last month's mega earthquake and tsunami, as well as disaster-hit municipalities in the region, to promote integrated post-quake reconstruction.
At the second meeting of the central government's panel on reconstruction also attended by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Murai also emphasized the need to create a disaster-prevention tax to finance the rehabilitation measures, based on the idea that people in Japan should be required to shoulder the burdens equally, according to meeting participants.
Iwate Gov. Takuya Tasso asked the central government to proactively increase public spending on rebuilding disaster-ravaged areas, while Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato asked the state to take all possible measures to deal with the disaster-triggered nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant and support people forced to evacuate from the plant's vicinity.
The meeting in Tokyo involved the three governors explaining their responses to the disaster in addition to presenting their respective proposals on how to rebuild in the aftermath of the March 11 disaster.
At the outset of the meeting, Makoto Iokibe, president of the National Defense Academy of Japan who heads the advisory panel to the prime minister, emphasized that participants of the body's inaugural meeting affirmed their intention to work on ''creative reconstruction'' based on the actual situation in the disaster-hit areas.
According to Miyagi prefectural government sources, the entity proposed by Murai is expected to coordinate the state's reconstruction vision and the three prefectures' reconstruction plans and address common issues such as seeking the early recovery of the agricultural and fishery sectors.
It is aimed at proceeding with unified reconstruction efforts through close coordination among local governments so as to be able to promptly rebuild damaged areas, particularly the coastal regions devastated by tsunami waves.



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