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TOKYO : Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Friday with survivors of devastating rains that killed at least 204 people in floods and landslides, while the government promised more help .
Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Friday that the death toll was 204 dead and that 28 people were still missing.
About 73,000 people went missing. Rescuers, including police and troops, "are working as hard as possible, with the priority of saving lives," he said.
Abe, who canceled this week a tour abroad, traveled a second time.
Television footage showed him going to Seiyo in Ehime Prefecture, where he visited homes damaged during the disaster and spoke to locals who were trying to clean up.
Abe promised a new help.
The government has already announced that it would allocate about $ 18 million ($ 72 million) of reserve funds to this year's budget, and Mr. Abe said that $ 312 million worth of funds would be required. Taxes would be disbursed "I want local governments in disaster areas to do everything they can for emergency assistance and reconstruction, without hesitation to spend," he said. .
The financial cost of the disaster is still being calculated, but the Ministry of Agriculture announced Friday that it had estimated the losses at least 207 million US dollars.
This figure is expected to increase as cleaning operations continue. "This could be the tip of the iceberg because we are still not able to go and inspect the fields," said Yasuhisa Hamanaka, a department official AFP . Saito said that the cost of some vegetables has already increased from 10% to 30% and the ministry "will be watching prices" closely.
The magnitude of the record of what is now Japan's worst climate disaster three decades have raised questions about whether the authorities were properly prepared and were acting effectively.
The English daily Japan Times noted that the floods that engulfed a district of Kurashiki in Okayama Prefecture were in line with expectations. But "evacuation orders were issued by the city to residents of certain areas of the district just minutes before the dam broke," the newspaper wrote in an editorial
. scrutinize our defenses against such disasters, identify weak spots and fix them. " – AFP
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