TOKYO: More than 7,000 people remain evacuated in the Japanese prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima and Nagano one year after downpours caused by Typhoon Hagibis devastated the regions on Oct. 12, 2019.

Some affected residents are seeing delays in the reconstruction work of their houses due to the new coronavirus epidemic.

People living in makeshift prefabricated housing units or private homes rented by local governments on a temporary basis total 4,123 in Fukushima, 1,781 in Nagano and 1,214 in Miyagi, according to the three prefectures.

Of such people, residents of prefabricated housing units, where people from same communities moved in as groups in many cases, total 639, while those taking shelter at private homes come to as many as 5,574.

This suggests that the prefectures are faced with a major challenge of preventing the isolation of people who left their home land to live in unfamiliar places, away from those from same communities.

The total death toll from the disaster has reached 71 in the three prefectures. Those who died for indirect disaster-related reasons came to 10 in Nagano, six in Fukushima and one in Miyagi, accounting for over 20 percent of the total deaths. Two remain missing in Miyagi.

JIJI Press