TOKYO, Japan (CCTV) — Japan is making plans to totally revitalize the country’s northeast within the next five year, after the region suffered from an earthquake-triggered tsunami in 2011.
Takagi Tsuyoshi, the country’s minister for reconstruction, made the pledge during an interview early March.
It has been five years since the tsunami knocked out the key cooling functions at the Daiichi nuclear power complex, causing multiple meltdowns in its reactors and leading to the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
Japan is half way through the 10-year reconstruc period set by the government, a critical point regarding revitalization, according to Tsuyoshi.
“Rehabilitation and reconstruction have reached a certain level in terms of ‘hardware’, but there is still a lack of ‘software’. We will attend to both aspects in the future, and achieve total reconstruction within the next five years,” said Tsuyoshi, noting that the government will place emphasis on revitalizing the spirit of the victims.
As for the Fukushima which suffered the worst from the nuclear crisis, the minister acknowledged challenges lie ahead but expressed faith from the side of the government.
“We have set a five-year period for reconstruction for the areas hit by the earthquake and tsunami. Actually, it might not take so long. But unfortunately, Fukushima, affected by the nuclear crisis, may not recover even given five years. The government will shoulder the responsibility all the same and make every effort to revitalize Fukushima, and we will be doing that with faith,” he said.
