Buildings in Minato-ku to be designated as tsunami-evacuation points
Selected buildings in Tokyo's Minato ward will be soon be designated as tsunami-evacuation points. Negotiations are underway between the local city council and 16 companies who own buildings of 10-storeys or higher. Approximately 36.5 million Yen has been set aside in the City's budget.
Several commercial and residential buildings in Arakawa-ku and Koto-ku have already received designations. While Arakawa-ku provided some assistance with the purchase of emergency supplies and rations, Minato-ku will provide all necessary supplies to the co-operating buildings. They are also considering providing assistance with any upgrades to building security so that they may be accessible to evacuees in an emergency situation.Read more
Voting rules may change to speed up earthquake-retrofitting
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) is considering bringing in relief measures that will reduce the number of votes needed by apartment owners when deciding on earthquake-retrofitting.
Currently, a majority vote is needed for small repairs, but if the building association wishes to carry out large-scale repairs which may include earthquake-retrofitting, at least 75% of apartment owners must agree to the repairs. Proposed changes by the MLIT would change this to a majority vote. Read more
Residents told they are 'on their own' in a major earthquake
Residents of The Tokyo Towers - a 58-storey condominium complex in Chuo-ku's Kachidoki bayside area - attended an information session on disaster preparedness held by the building's management committee in October. Following the Tohoku earthquake, the committee have been looking at revising their disaster manual.
Mr. Motose, who is in charge of disaster management in the committee, informed residents that they may be without electricity and elevators in the event of a major earthquake, and should prepared to have enough supplies to last a month.
Residents were also told of possible ways the building could be affected in an earthquake. Read more
No. of new earthquake insurance policies up 7.3%
According to the Non-Life Insurance Rating Organization of Japan (NLIRO), the number of new earthquake insurance policies in 2011 increased by 7.3% from the year before to 9,335,873 policies.
In addition, the number of contracts on residential properties in force at the end of the 2011 fiscal year had risen by 10.5% to 14,088,665. This is the highest growth rate seen since 1996 when it increased by 15.3%. In Fukushima Prefecture, the rate increased by 51.3%. Incidentally, Fukushima previously had a low proportion of property owners with earthquake insurance. Miyagi Prefecture had the second highest increase of 30.1%, and Iwate Prefecture was third with a 23.7% increase.Read more
An update on building damage from the Tohoku earthquake
Just after the March 11 Tohoku earthquake it was announced that zero buildings had collapsed, which everyone naturally assumed was a testament to the strict building codes in Japan.
However, it has now been acknowledged that 100 apartment buildings in Sendai city have been completely destroyed.
3480 homes completely destroyed in Kanto area following Tohoku disaster
An investigation by the Tokyo Shimbun has found that as many as 3480 homes in the Kanto area were completely destroyed in the Tohoku disaster. A further 2815 homes were partially destroyed and will need to be demolished. In some areas, the number of partially destroyed homes equalled the number that were completely destroyed.
Homeowners may be eligible to receive a maximum of 3 million Yen as compensation, but high construction costs mean that very few homes are being rebuilt. It has been almost 11 months since the disaster and the full extent of the damage is only now coming to the surface.Read more