 JCP Shii and Ichida visit quake-hit area Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo and Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi visited the quake-hit area, including Tokamachi City, Nagaoka City, and Kawaguchi Town in Niigata Prefecture on November 4, and gave words of encouragement to evacuees who are taking refugee in school buildings and other temporary shelters due to the serious damage and frequent aftershocks. The JCP leaders also visited local government offices and handed them donations the JCP collected throughout the country. Residents, mayors, and town heads asked the JCP to realize their keen demands, such as countermeasures against heavy snowfall reaching 3 meters deep, possible landslides and other secondary accidents, and the construction of temporary housings. Shii and Ichida also visited rescue centers established by the JCP, and encouraged JCP members and volunteers who distribute disposable diapers, blankets, vegetables, etc to sufferers and help with garbage disposal and clean up activities. Shii told sufferers that a JCP Dietmember pressed the government to give top priority to reconstructing regional hospitals because they have been unable to accept more patients. Another JCP lawmaker pressed the government to subsidize local autonomies concerned to pay half a million yen for each house destroyed by the quake, and the government confirmed that a directive has been issued to this end, Shii said. The three opposition parties, the JCP, Democratic, and Social Democratic parties on the same day jointly submitted a bill to the House of Representatives, calling for the law in relief of disaster victims' lives to be amended. Under the present law, public subsidies are effective only for completely or almost completely destroyed houses. (end) |