Publicly funded demolitions have been completed for only about 4% of houses damaged by the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake for which the procedure was requested.
According to the Ishikawa Prefectural Government, requests for publicly paid demolitions have been filed for over 20,000 residential buildings in the prefecture, which was hit hard by the 7.6 magnitude quake.
Work to place demolition orders and begin demolitions is being delayed, due to a lack of experience among local government officials and consultants dealing with the situation and scarce accommodation facilities in the Okunoto region in the northern part of the peninsula, officials said.