[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the 17th meeting of the Emergency Response Headquarters for the Earthquake Centered in the Kumamoto Region of Kumamoto Prefecture 2016 at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, reports and discussions were held on the situation pertaining to damage and the response of each ministry and agency.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

“Yesterday the body of an individual that we had been unable to contact was found. I would like to express my heartfelt condolences.

I would like the workers to continue to exert efforts in the search activities, while paying due attention to ensuring their own safety. In the affected areas, close to 50,000 people are still forced to lead restricted lives as evacuees. In order to provide fine-tuned support, tomorrow a data collection system based on having tablet terminals in each evacuation center in Kumamoto Prefecture and assessing each of their needs will be introduced, with the cooperation of private companies. At the same time, in regard to places other than evacuation centers where evacuees have gathered, such as car parks, since volunteers have launched a support system making full use of SNS and other communication tools, we will effectively amass and utilize this data to more accurately grasp exactly what each evacuation center needs right now, and share this information. 

Schools should be reopened in the affected areas as quickly as possible. To that end, we must rapidly implement measures for people to move from evacuation centers to new homes. Decisions on residents in public housing have already begun, and the path to moving in is beginning to be seen, and we will accelerate the work. At the same time, in regard to the construction work for emergency temporary housing, I would like you to steadily proceed, while at the same time assessing the damage and issuing Disaster Victim Certificates, and not get bogged down in red tape.

In order to rebuild the lives of those affected, an urgent task is to support the rebuilding of small and medium-sized enterprises in the affected areas. At the consultation offices set up immediately after the disaster occurred, there have already been more than 1,400 consultations such as on the need for funding, and government financial institutions and other bodies are responding. Please respond in detail to the particular contents of the consultations such as restoration of damaged facilities and the maintenance of employment.

We will continue to do everything that is possible for the affected areas. I would like you to advance specific measures that immediately respond to the local situation.”