Burden on Disaster Victims Living in Temporary Housing in Ishinomaki

The city of Ishinomaki constructed 7,122 row-house-style temporary housing units to house disaster victims on a smaller scale than its initial plan of 10,000 units because it was authorized to use private rental housing as temporary housing by the central government. While the capacity of the temporary housing was less than the initial plan, it’s the largest one in the municipalities among affected three prefectures.

Ishinomaki aims at setting up 4,000 disaster public housing units so that victims may move from temporary housing to homes where they can live without anxiety. A total of 149 private apartments have been already chartered and supplied to victims so far. Under its plan, 3,101 disaster public housing units are going to be built at thirty nine places in urban areas, 1,359 of them are due to be supplied by the end of March next year, but soring labor cost and material prices are delaying the construction work.

【Disaster public housing at Nakazato district in Ishinomaki】



Now, forty three months down the line, the temporary housing is aging and some dwellers have challenges of how to organize their associations, and not only that even the victims who have moved into disaster public housing from the temporary housing have another problems with the uneasiness of life. In particular, as many elderly victims still live in temporary housing, their anxieties such as loneliness and impatience due to neighbors’ removal, uncertainty about their everyday and future life, and so on are evident.

JEN organizes occasional networking events among victims living in temporary housing. A participant said “working in a group and talking with neighbors over lunch we cooked together provide me an opportunity to raise awareness and learn about things that we usually overlook.”

【Company employees listening to victims living in Mongokura temporary dwellings】



【A networking party between victims and company employees】




It’s expected that victims are going to move into disaster public housing from temporary housing. JEN is committed to encouraging the victims to be more positive.

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