Japan to consider declaring northeast wildfire ‘major disaster’: Premier

ISTANBUL

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Wednesday that the government would consider whether to declare the wildfire burning through the northeastern part of the country a “major disaster.”

“I am looking at (designating them) as a major disaster. The government will consider quick and appropriate responses in a way that the monetary burdens of affected local governments can be minimized,” Ishiba said during a meeting of the House of Councilors’ Budget Committee Wednesday, as reported by the daily English newspaper Japan News.

If the declaration comes, the central government’s subsidies would have to be raised for the cost of reconstruction work conducted by the local governments.

The efforts to extinguish the wildfire in Ofunato city, Iwate Prefecture, continued on Wednesday.

With 300 more hectares torched, the burned areas on Wednesday increased to 2,900 hectares, comprising 9% of the city’s area.

The blaze so far has forced over 4,000 people to evacuate and killed one individual.

Rain and snow began falling in the city Wednesday, giving hope to people that the fire can be put out soon. This marked the first time the city received 0.5 millimeters or more of rain in 16 days.

Japan has not experienced a wildfire of this magnitude since 1975, when 2,700 hectares were burned in Kushiro in the Hokkaido region.