Apathy for construction

By The Data Team

NEARLY four years after north-eastern Japan’s huge earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown on March 11th 2011, more than 170,000 people are still stuck in temporary housing along the ravaged coast. Rikuzentakata, a fishing port that was washed away by the tsunami—killing more than 1,750 people in the process—is just one example of many towns and villages where reconstruction has been painfully slow. Local officials blame central-government sloth, but nearer to home, plans are held up by intergenerational disagreement about how best—and where—to rebuild.

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, says that the devastated north-east is a crucial test of his plans to revive the country’s economy. Indeed, an early campaign stop for the general election last December was one of many prefabricated housing blocks crammed into school grounds in Rikuzentakata. Yet other national priorities seem to trump significant rebuilding in the region. A construction boom fuelled by Mr Abe’s monetary and fiscal stimulus has sucked capacity away from the north-east to Tokyo, where deals are more lucrative. Locals ask why the capital is building an ostentatious stadium for the Olympic games in 2020, when the poor and elderly who lost their homes in the tsunami are still not rehoused.