 JCP calls for urgent Niigata quake victims relief measures Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo visited the quake-hit area in Niigata Prefecture on November 4 and 5 together with JCP Secretariat head Ichida Tadayoshi and called for urgent measures to help ensure minimum living conditions for the evacuees and extend public financial assistance in housing reconstruction. At the press conference at the Niigata Prefectural government office on November 5, Shii pointed out that the disaster area has heavy snowfalls of several meters' depth, and that it is a rapidly aging area and called for the following steps to be taken without delay, including medical- and nursing care-related services; temporary housings for those with no substitute housing; broader public financial assistance in solving the housing problem to cover not only completely or almost completely destroyed quake-hit houses as under the present disaster relief law, but also partially destroyed houses; a new system to assist in the rehabilitation of regional industries, textile, machinery, agriculture, farming of carp, and tourism, through easy and quick financing plans by the central and local governments with no collateral or guarantor. Shii also stated that the JCP will make further efforts to recruit volunteers for the quake-hit areas and collect donations and materials in support of the quake victims. The JCP gave 36 million yen to 25 quake-hit local governments in Niigata in its first donation collected from throughout the nation. (end) |