The Japanese government has announced that it will allocate an additional ¥50,931.54 million from its fiscal 2024 reserve funds for disaster relief in the Noto Peninsula. This decision comes after the peninsula was hit by a massive earthquake and heavy rain earlier this year. It marks the seventh round of fiscal spending to aid the region since the January 1 quake, bringing the total amount allocated to ¥715 billion. In addition to the earthquake, last month’s downpour also caused landslides and floods in the area.
Prime Minister Ishiba has made regional revitalization and disaster reduction key priorities of his administration. His visit to the Noto Peninsula on Saturday influenced this latest decision for additional aid. The planned assistance includes ¥2.6 billion for improving disaster evacuation centers, such as by providing food trucks that can serve hot meals to victims, aligning with Ishiba’s campaign promises during his recent leadership election within his Liberal Democratic Party.
Furthermore, there are plans to allocate ¥32.8 billion towards restoring damaged roads, riverbanks, and other infrastructure facilities in the region. An additional ¥15.5 billion will be used for disaster waste disposal in order to expedite demolition of damaged houses.
In line with his focus on disaster management and preparedness, Ishiba has instructed his government to begin preparations for establishing a dedicated agency for handling disasters. During a policy speech before Japan’s parliament last week, he emphasized the importance of enhancing national resilience against disasters.
It is expected that expenditures related to disaster prevention and reduction measures will be included in an economic package set to be adopted later this year during autumn.
In addition to allocating funds for disaster relief efforts on Friday, it was also decided that ¥81,594.03 million would be spent on Japan’s upcoming general election for its lower chamber of parliament (House of Representatives) scheduled for October 27th.