90% of homes flooded in typhoon ineligible for gov't support

But this, in principle, is limited to flood levels of 1 meter or more above ground.

When you build wooden frame houses, in a flood plain, you are asking for trouble!

Like with so many other things here, the "rules" have to be followed, even when they aren't rules but guidelines!

These people SHOULD have had insurance, if they didnt, getting low interest loans from the government should be appropriate but they should not be getting grants!

Building a house is not a "right", not everyone can do it, and those who do choose to build should have the appropriate insurance as well!

Maybe they should have diverted funds from the elaborate coronation ceremony

suprise suprise, sure the wine was worth it at the big ceremony on the 22nd though. Go back to sleep japan your government care have your best interets at hard keep voting them in please.

I feel for those who are affected. It doesn't help that some insurance policy say stormcover is included but not flood leaving the home owner to argue which part of the damage is covered and which is not.

Take note: Earthquake cover must be taken out separately too, and to me this is symptomatic of the scam that the insurance industry run in Japan.

Government should step in and assists home owners here, they're behaving no different to the dodgy insurers if their rules generally exclude assistance to affected homes rather than include them in the assistance package.

* But this, in principle, is limited to flood levels of 1 meter or more above ground*

In principle? That means the government has a choice to help these people. This is Abe doing all he can to help these people. Just more lies from the bag of hot air Japan calls a leader.

Make a promise to help the public then find a loophole to not help them.

Many of those who live in the high risk flood areas are mostly low income families as the cost of the homes are 10 to 20 million yen cheaper. (I'm one of them) These are the people that need the money the most!

I'm sure the wealthier people, like those in the Futakotamagawa area that got flooded will receive their financial support. And they are the ones that fought the gov. not to have a levee built because it would damage the beautiful scenery!

 a move that has almost alleviated flooding in residential areas 

This is saying that flooding has almost completely been alleviated in residential areas, correct?

" the typhoon had caused 87.6 billion yen in damage to Japan's agricultural and fisheries industries in 37 of the nation's 47 prefectures."

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This will impact the economy directly - not to mention the lives of those involved..

It's ironic as sensei258 alludes maybe the Government "should have diverted funds from the elaborate coronation ceremony."

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Many of those who live in the high risk flood areas are mostly low income families as the cost of the homes are 10 to 20 million yen cheaper. (I'm one of them) These are the people that need the money the most!

Low income people do not build houses in Japan! It's a fallacy to think otherwise!

They don’t need to divert funds from the coronation ceremony. All they have to do is simply issue government bonds to help the flood victims rebuild their houses. But the all-powerful Ministry of Finance will never allow that to happen.

Low income people do not build houses in Japan! It's a fallacy to think otherwise

$90k - $180k discount on the cost of a home seems to indicate the market is fairly wealthy.

The problem with flooding when you have a wooden foundation is that it can rot. Even if the foundation isn't wooden, water damage can really break apart most foundations. For some, especially those that don't qualify for funding, might end up seeing their homes deteriorate at a much quicker pace.

its bad enough when your home gets trashed by a storm, then you get another kick in the teeth, when some official says the water only came up 95 cm so you're not entitled. personally if I was one of those officials, everything was above 100cm +

90% of homes flooded in typhoon ineligible for gov't support

Abe and the LDP showing their TRUE colours.

suprise suprise, sure the wine was worth it at the big ceremony on the 22nd though. Go back to sleep japan your government care have your best interets at hard keep voting them in please.

exactly.

This is Abe doing all he can to help these people. Just more lies from the bag of hot air Japan calls a leader.

Amen!

Sorry, but building or buying a house next to a river or directly under a steep deforested hill is asking for trouble. Compound this by not being properly insured and expecting the government to rescue you? Sorry...not with my hard earned tax money.

Yubaru; Low income people do not build houses in Japan! It's a fallacy to think otherwise!

Sorry Yubaru, but I must disagree. As long as you are employed, you can secure a home loan of up to 35 years. The homes in my area are about 35million JPY. Directly across the street from Tama River where as houses more inland start at about 45mil. If I could a afford a home more inland, I would have bought one.

My house insurance includes everything except tsunamis, which would never happen where I live. Why didn't people have the correct insurance coverage, given they live where they do?

3 million yen? 30,000 dollars? Wow... talk about not caring at all... I suppose "officials" come out and measure the water line as well... So sad Japan has their priorities totally wrong.

Egads. Can you imagine having just 1 cm of disgusting flood water soaking your floors and sub flooring? Even that amount might cause buckling of flooring, depending on the material, and if the water is contaminated with sewage and chemicals, couldn't just be dried out. Insurance companies run the same kind of sham with customers.

You don't have to build right next to a river to be in danger of flooding. Adachi city put out a flood risk map and the river we live nearest is less than 1 km away, but there is no danger from that river. We live 5 km from the Arikawa and one other to the west and supposedly we could get inundated with 5 meters of water if those rivers flood. Almost the whole Kanto plain, with the exception of the hilly parts of downtown Tokyo, are in this same situation.

This tells me "Don't build/buy house near river, mountain, steel tower and on the place that used to river, lake, pond, rice field."

Take a step back, have empathy, I would gladly help my neighbours, residing near rivers or otherwise.

It doesn't help that some insurance policy say stormcover is included but not flood leaving the home owner to argue which part of the damage is covered and which is not.

Yes, first hit I got on google for home insurance is kakaku.com and none of the policies on the page I saw included "suisai", flooding, just as they don't include earthquakes by default. You have to ask for these things as extras. This may not be the insurance industry's fault. It may be customers demanding fire insurance and pretty much nothing else to save money.

I suspect this means that naive people who simply trust in "insurance" may lose out because they have bought a bare minimum policy designed to sell to stingy people who have poor judgement. Home insurance is sold in Japan as "fire insurance" - that's the kanji used - so it's not being sold under a deceptive name.

When you build wooden frame houses, in a flood plain, you are asking for trouble!

Houses here in Japan are built in accordance with time. They are like fashions. Notice the flooded house on the picture above is a traditional and fairly an old one probably built more than 50 years ago. Those times we rarely have foods comparable to what we are having now. Don't blame those people for building houses from out of the materials available at the time. Modern houses are also mostly made out of wooden frame. In fact 85% of all houses in the entire country are made of wooden frames because they withstand earthquakes better than the concrete ones.

Building a house is not a "right", not everyone can do it, and those who do choose to build should have the appropriate insurance as well!

Even in Japan, time is changing. Majority of the houses you see now were built during the BUBBLE ECONOMY. Some lost their old jobs, some had their wages cut in half and some are retired. Most can not afford 3 or 4 insurances at a time.

Low income people do not build houses in Japan! It's a fallacy to think otherwise!

Have you thought of a low income people inheriting houses from their old? Most people in the rural areas did not buy the houses they reside in.

Why didn't people have the correct insurance coverage, given they live where they do?

@NoBusiness

Probably for the same reason many people in New Orleans didn't have flood insurance even though they lived in an area below sea level. Insurance is expensive. While the amount may not seem that large, all amounts add up and it's hard to fit into your budget.

"Don't build/buy house near river, mountain, steel tower and on the place that used to river, lake, pond, rice field."

At kwatt, the only place left you could build your home then is next to the ocean.

In cases of water damage, the law on financial assistance to disaster victims stipulates that they can be awarded up to 3 million yen for rebuilding.

3 million yen is a joke.

insurance scam, sadly a lot of naive got them.

in Japan we never explain in detail contract to customers. KOKO NI SIGN SHITE KUDASAI!

in Japan, trust is the main motor. but trust and scam looks similar in many case.

At the first place , many houses should never received the built permit . too late....

The government in principle do not take responsibilities for the damages of natural disasters. I rent and live in a danchi house. I am free from expenses to any damages occurring to the buildings. Lucky!

That's rediculas, mold doesn't care how deep the water is.

The government in principle do not take responsibilities for the damages of natural disasters. I rent and live in a danchi house. I am free from expenses to any damages occurring to the buildings. Lucky!

Who do you suppose will shoulder the the expenses should any damages occurs? Danchi housing is a public housing system or joint private and public housing system. It is funded and is the responsibility of the gov't.. They should be rented to poor and elderly or to those who lost their homes in some way or another. Lucky, why?

Insurance is expensive. While the amount may not seem that large, all amounts add up and it's hard to fit into your budget.

That's true to an extent. I would hope people who say this do not eat out much or have a new car. If so, it becomes a question of priorities. Flooding insurance starts at 10,000 yen a year, eating out once or twice if you are a family. I remember when supermarkets started charging for plastic shopping bags and TV voxpops were full of indignant people saying how 2 yen or 5 yen was outrageous and would affect their budgets. This included well-dressed people who could clearly afford it.

Japanese government is broke and can't pay for disaster recovery anymore.

Don't look at Japanese government, they can't help.

Japan is a democratic country.

Dont worry about it, emperor will go there with his wife and shake their hands! They don't need money or compensation!

I know the 2 are completely seperate issues - the devastating destructive typhoon and the emperors coronation - but never could be starker than when the images from both current events are placed side by side.

A surrealness that can never be explained.

Richness, Pomp, Ceremony, Entitlement juxtaposed with Poverty, Humbleness, Distress and Loss.

The articles photo expresses it all.

All houses are standing on a concrete foundation or (kiso). Building code have standard heights but they vary in height depending on where house is constructed One way of verifying this is by checking your local flood water map which is provided by the gov't thru the local homeowner's association. Older houses have lower foundations but because of the climate changes, the level of sea water rises. A new edition of flood water map is being circulated lately. See for yourselves and check the concrete foundations in your neighborhood.

Many of those who live in the high risk flood areas are mostly low income families as the cost of the homes are 10 to 20 million yen cheaper. (I'm one of them)

should never buy a house in a high risk flood area, you would be better off to keep renting in a apartment building 2nd floor or higher. There are plenty of empty homes in Japan and some very cheap one in areas not effected by floods. One old home just sold about two houses down from me it was built in the 60s has ben renovated before and is structurally about 140 m/3, sold for 9 million yen, including the land. the land itself is worth that, but due to the age of the home people write it off so basically the home is free and your only buying the land, many many homes in Japan like this. I was seriously thinking about buying it and using it as a storage home, but another security company bought it and now uses it as an office. It sold within 3 weeks of being listed.

The 1 metre rule is arbitrary and stupid. Either a house is destroyed or it isn't, why should someone whose house was destroyed in a 101cm flood be covered while someone whose house was destroyed in a 99cm flood be on their own? Makes zero sense at all.

Shame on the government and the law for this! These people get shallacked by nature, then kept spit on by the law thereafter, and no doubt many of them will not be able to pay for repairs, given the Economy, tax increases, and the fact that it is an aging society. And yet, I bet the government is more than happy to provide further assistance to TEPCO for their failures in the past and with September's typhoon, as well as any outages and repair work needed to restore power to affected areas.

I am a building loss adjustor in my country and it seems so ludicrous to trigger or not flood insurance depending on a one rule a dumb 6 year old kid can implement with no technical basis.

And the amount of property damage shall be assess on a real basis (wear and tear rate applied normally).

So it is unfair to give same compensation to all uninsured on such rule, except if I am missing something.

＠zichiToday  11:41 am JST

That is not 100% correct. All modern houses have concrete foundations just for the walls but unlike in the west there isn't a concrete slab just earth.

According to the Building Standard Law, the foundations in the case of a wooden floor, it must be at least 45 cm from the ground. 1FL = GL + 450. Height of the first floor is = to ;the height of the ground level + 450 mm. In old farm houses, etc., a fairly high floor of 1FL = GL + 900 etc. was normal. This is the Building Code ( Law ) and you can not build a house without concrete foundations. Anything you build over 2 meters should have a foundation including walls.

Most of the older traditional houses don't have foundations. The wood pillars go down to the ground and are then on a stone. I have restored this type of house in Nagano.

You are right, older structures built before the 70's have no foundations especially farmhouses and 'minkas', of course this is not true to tall buildings.

quite a stunning photo. Should be made into a painting

should be declared an emergency and appropriate funds reallocated to help people. Also maybe start redesigning cities on flood plains to higher ground and better housing design.

The gov't is twisting all kinds of laws in their favor including the 1 meter rule. They simply make all the excuses they can think of because they already spent all the funds for this fiscal year.

@zichiToday  12:59 pm JST

Sorry but I was responding to your comment

"All houses are standing on a concrete foundation or (kiso)."

It's fairly ok. No need to apologize, we are just having a healthy conversation and not an argument.

Clearly we have a misunderstanding here. You mentioned the ff.

*That is not 100% correct. All modern houses have concrete foundations just for the walls but unlike in the west there isn't a concrete slab just earth. *

I thought you said only the walls have concrete foundations.

and with regards to my comment,

"All houses are standing on a concrete foundation or (kiso)."

Kiso is what we call for concrete foundation here in native language. It looks like an open rows of concrete boxes. or if you prefer to call it a wall foundation. I do not know how to call it other than concrete foundation.

The Japanese government really cares for it's citizens. (So I have been often told).

Sorry Yubaru, but I must disagree. As long as you are employed, you can secure a home loan of up to 35 years. The homes in my area are about 35million JPY. Directly across the street from Tama River where as houses more inland start at about 45mil. If I could a afford a home more inland, I would have bought one.

Low income people do not buy, nor build houses here! I have no idea what you think or consider is "low income" but in places where the average yearly income is 2.5 Million yen per year, THOSE folks dont build homes.

I call it a concrete wall foundation because they are a system of thin concrete walls built directly onto the earth. The internal space of all those walls remains earth. 

Well, times changed. Internal space of all those walls are half filled with concrete. Some who can afford floor heating, fill the space full of concrete and then lay meters of hoses few centimeters below for the hot water to pass thru them. It is called Yuka Danbou

built on earth? donno what you talking about... both my house and any other construction ever seen here has concrete poured as foundation.

THEN ......................WHERE are all the money going to.

These people lost their homes due to serious design and contruction flaws in the waterways and river embankments meant to keep flood waters out. The goverments, local and national, are responsible for this. They should help everyone out.

Makes you wonder why the land was sold for residential construction to begin with.

People here have stated reasons why many should get nothing from the government in compensation or assistance after the typhoon. Up to %90 of homes not eligible for assistance.

I would think the only criteria would be are you Japanese or not. If you wont help your own people who have lost everything, due to rules, then you have no business being in the company of civilized nations. Your people work and pay taxes and in times of emergency could be called upon by the government to assist it. It works both ways. If buildings are not built to the rules then the local council has as much blame as the home owners and the companies building the dwellings.

Helping your own people get up helps your nation. Healing begins with community spirit. Leaving your people with nothing is like not letting someone in a typhoon shelter just because they dont have an address, and that would never happen would it?

Do the Japanese have a heart? Do they truly have the ability to care about others? If it is everyone for themselves then anarchy has already won. Welcome to Japan.

My local area authority issued a map of the local area showing flood likelyhood hot-spots. .... Given the "news" herein, I guess they were trying to tell home-owners in those areas that, they're on their own and although they're lucky this time, not to expect any government bailout the next. Hollow-words for those elsewhere in the Country facing ruin...

We just changed our home insurance provider. And, even though we opted not to include flood coverage, as we truly have no flood danger (we did opt in for storm coverage though), we noticed that the cost of flood coverage is quite low.

I wonder if the low cost is due to our location not being in a flood-prone area? Or, if it's just not that expensive in Japan? (It was much higher for us in California.) If the latter, people are extremely foolish not to add it to their policies.

dear zichi, if you decide to live in 30+ year old house with no reform done to it... well the joke is on you ?get it proper insured then at least. its up to each own individual to make sure and protect themselves from any possible danger., and if you havent invested the minimum .. well dont go around crying to others.

btw yuka danbou aint that expensive and i highly recommend it if you live anywhere higher than osaka in Japan. ,that and proper tiling atleast on first floor and not that crappy linoleum

yes they are hence the news bit about refusal to pay of the damage... it shouldne even go to gov but to insurance companies or building contractors directly.

60 years? Japan typically has a 30 year shelf life for a wooden housing ( as suggested by the Gov) if you havent made the necessary repairs to update that buidling... that is again, on you.

sensei258Oct. 24 06:52 am JSTMaybe they should have diverted funds from the elaborate coronation ceremony

Yes. An emperor may be a figurehead today but what the heck is he if he doesn't assist to the people's needs?

Samit BasuOct. 24 10:19 am JSTJapanese government is broke and can't pay for disaster recovery anymore.

Don't look at Japanese government, they can't help.

If a government doesn't meet the needs of the people then it's no good and it should step aside to let in some people who can.