TOKYO: The Japanese government Thursday designated the massive New Year’s Day earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture as a disaster of extreme severity in an effort to promote the reconstruction of affected areas.

The designation increases the central government’s subsidy rate for big reconstruction projects conducted by local governments, such as those involving roads, ports, schools, elderly and child care facilities and farmland.

Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio told officials at a meeting of his earthquake response task force that the government will support quake-hit municipalities to help rebuild people’s lives.

The designation also paves the way for more credit guarantees to smaller companies and greater support for fishery operations.

The government also designated the earthquake as a specified emergency disaster to give affected people preferential administrative treatment, such as extending the validity period of driver’s licenses and postponing bankruptcy proceedings.

To prevent deaths from indirect causes related to the earthquake, the government will encourage evacuees, especially seniors and people with underlying conditions, to move from stopgap shelters to accommodation facilities with more livable conditions.

From the viewpoint of addressing a spread of infectious diseases, it is important to move evacuees to more livable shelters as this helps to eliminate congestion at evacuation centers, Kishida said.

“Some people are feeling anxious about living in a place they are unfamiliar with,” Kishida said, instructing officials to eliminate their anxieties and concerns.

More livable shelters will be available for 10,000 evacuees this week, a government official said. Only 182 people had moved from stopgap shelters to such accommodation facilities in Ishikawa as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.

JIJI Press