TOKYO, Jan 30 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in During a speech in the lower house of parliament, he announced his intention to create a headquarters to support the restoration of regions affected by the powerful earthquake on the Noto Peninsula on January 1.
«We will be responsible for the return of people affected by the disaster and the restoration of the affected regions, including the Noto Peninsula. We will create a headquarters to facilitate the recovery of the Noto Peninsula after the 2024 earthquake, and I will lead it,» he emphasized.
The head of the Japanese government noted that the authorities recently decided to double the size of the reserve fund in the draft budget for the next fiscal year, which begins on April 1, to 1 trillion yen (about 6.7 billion dollars).
«We should not be hesitant about earthquake relief because of budget constraints,» Kishida added.
On the first day of 2024, a series of large earthquakes occurred in the Noto Peninsula area of Ishikawa Prefecture on the west coast of Japan, the strongest of which was magnitude 7.6. Due to the earthquakes, a tsunami threat was declared along the entire western coast of the country from north to south; in a number of places on the coast, the tsunami height was 4.8 meters.
According to the latest data, 238 people died due to the earthquake, and at least 1,179 people received injuries of varying severity. The number of people with whom contact has not yet been established is 19. 14.23 thousand people remain in 487 evacuation centers. Almost 44.39 thousand houses were completely or partially destroyed. More than 3 thousand households remain without electricity in Ishikawa Prefecture. Water supply in some areas of the prefecture will not be restored until the end of February. 7 thousand members of the self-defense forces are working at the site of the natural disaster.