14 Years On: Iwate to Ask for Continued Reconstruction Support

   Morioka, Iwate Pref., Feb. 19 (Jiji Press)--Iwate Prefecture will ask the Japanese government for continued assistance after the second-phase reconstruction period expires at the end of fiscal 2025 following a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, Governor Takuya Tasso said in an interview.
   "Reviving sources of livelihood is important to enrich the lives of affected people," the governor of the northeastern Japan prefecture said. The prefectural government will promote cooperation between producers, processors and distributors in the fisheries industry, he said.
   The mental health care system is very fragile in coastal areas of the prefecture, Tasso said. Iwate will ask the central government for continued assistance beyond fiscal 2025 as part of reconstruction support to help it secure necessary personnel, he said. The prefectural government will develop mental health care experts, he said.
   A proposed central government agency in charge of disaster prevention could be set up outside of Tokyo, which experts say could be hit by a disaster, Tasso said. Setting up the agency in Iwate could be possible, he said.
   The agency "will work well if it accumulates past disaster experiences, trains personnel and oversees personnel in disaster prevention from the public and private sectors as well as research institutes," Tasso said.

(2025/02/19-11:57)

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