According to the Japan Platform, 62000 temporary houses were requested by Iwate/Miyagi and Fukushima. As of April 8, only 36 houses were build in Iwate. 4321 houses are in process of construction in 3 prefectures. The government wants to see 30,000 temporary houses within the next 2 months. Challenges faced –land acquisition and mountains of debris, shortage of construction materials, infrastructure destroyed and transport difficulties. The Finance Ministry has proposed a budget of US$50 billion (4:02 trillion yen). World Bank says it will take 5 years to rebuild .
CREST – strategy approach is 3 prong - i) relief goods distribution ii)supply/support of manpower/volunteers iii) reconstruction/repair of houses.
As of May 2011, CREST has send 4 shipments of water, blankets, jackets, Styrofoam material. Pending shipment is 9 containers of water, antibacterial soap, milk powder, plywood .
Manpower. Volunteers come and go. The need for continual manpower is mandatory for effective distribution of the relief goods to the affected areas. Goods come from donors in Tokyo -Japan and overseas. Salary for a manual labourer is 200,000 yen (rm7,268.00) . Cost of living, accommodation, transport is 4 times more expensive than Malaysia.
The homes that are still standing and needs repair is estimated as 1,200,000 yen (rm43,000) Rental bus costs rm1000 per day.
Shipping, freight forwarders, customs , handling fees, transport costs etc – rm 2000.00 per container from port to port (estimated as initial shipment was FOC but subsequent shipment goes out at subsidised rate)
10 containers = rm 20,000.00
Styrofoam x 1 container 40’ = rm 20,000.00
Plywood x 1 container = rm50,000.00
Supervision, monitoring, follow-up = rm 5000 per person per trip (x 5 trips)
Salary, support for 2 Japanese workers rm7,500 x 2 = 15,000 x 6 months = rm90,000.00
Building/repair homes averaging rm 30,000.00 per home x 10 = rm 300,000.00 (each home will be individually assessed before rebuilding-cost do differ widely and greatly but much cheaper than government. Have own in house carpenter)
CREST partners in Japan will be JIFH(Japan International Food for the Hungry), Love East Project and CRASH Japan. The 1st CREST team were doing cleaning up debris, rebuilding house in Kesennuma and Ishinomaki. Followup on the donated goods blankets, jackets with the local partners. The warehouse is based in Sendai. Water 1500 boxes were distributed in Ibaraki and Iwaki. CREST will be doing relief/rebuilding of homes until year end .
All these estimates will be supported by receipts, documents for intended projects. The proposal for rebuilding 10 houses, salary support for 2 workers, vehicles/transportation , supervision and monitoring will be rm500,000.00
Disclaimer- in event of changing events/circumstances per week, the proposed relief/rehousing may be re-schedule to meet more immediate needs or government rulings.
