Municipalities in northeastern Japan hit hard by the March 11 earthquake, ensuing tsunami and nuclear crisis are fighting an uphill battle to contain population outflow, which threatens the very survival of local communities.

The population of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures has dropped by more than 20,000 since the outbreak of the disasters on March 11 as reconstruction efforts have been delayed, the employment situation has not improved and businesses have left the region. Amidst the triple headaches, local municipalities have been trying desperately to stop people and businesses from leaving the area, but they do not have effective measures to stem the trend due to decreases in tax revenues.

The Kamaishi Municipal Government in Iwate Prefecture decided in May to make the fees for kindergartens and day-care centers in the city free after taking into account the will of Mayor Takenori Noda. The city used to have top-level mines and steel plants, with the population topping 90,000. But the number of people living there dropped to less than 40,000 as of the end of last February. Furthermore, about 1,000 people have apparently left the city since the March 11 disasters, and 35 children, including those who had planned to use the facilities, have left the kindergartens and day-care centers in the city.

As of the end of May, about 870 children were subject to the program for free kindergarten and day-care centers, which would cost about 100 million yen. The tax revenues for the city stood at about 4.3 billion yen in fiscal 2009. Because tax revenues following the disasters were expected to drop further, the free kindergarten and day-care center program would remain effective only for one year. But an official of the municipal government said, “If the number of households with children were to decrease further, not only would tax revenues drop but also the city would not be able to exist because there would be no adult successors in the city.”

About 600 people have apparently left Rikuzentakata where more than 1,500 people died and its city center was devastated by the tsunami. The municipal government launched a program to provide up to 500,000 yen in financial aid to small- and medium-sized companies affected by the disasters to help them buy or repair necessary machines as city authorities thought restoration of companies would be crucial to stop the population outflow. The local government also urged businesses to take advantage of an infrastructure program to lease temporary shops for free.

As of the end of August, 77 groups from about 190 businesses in the city applied for the program, but only three temporary shops began to be built because it was taking a long time to process the applications. “We want to help them restart their businesses as soon as possible,” said Mitsuo Kikuchi, head of the planning division at the municipal government.

The situation in Fukushima Prefecture, which has evacuation zones designated in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, is more serious. Nine municipalities in the prefecture moved their official functions and their residents have evacuated to various places across the country, and therefore it is difficult for municipal authorities to even keep in contact with their residents.

The town of Okuma, which had all of its citizens evacuated from the area, launched an official blog on the Internet. Since then, the local government has been constantly updating online information on relief aid supplies, check-ups for internal exposure to radiation, availability of disaster-linked condolence money, etc.

The town of Namie distributed digital photo-frames to its evacuees in a bid to give up-to-date information on various schedules such as those for consultations, levels of radiation and the like. The village of Katsurao is planning to distribute its mail magazine to its residents soon.

Mainichi Shimbun