Public Subsidy for Demolition of Damaged Housing

　　　One of the measures taken for the victims was to subsidize the cost of demolishing damaged housing and clearing the debris. There was, on the other hand, little subsidy or assistance for repairs. The application period for the subsidy was limited. As a result, many people turned to demolition rather than repair without much time to consider and without correct information, partly believing that a reconstructed house must be much safer than a repaired one, which was not necessarily the case. Much housing which was in a livable state was demolished.
　　　People had a choice whether they individually ask a demolition contractor and receive the subsidy amount paying the amount in excess or ask from the beginning an authority-recommended contractor to do the job. In the latter case, people had to agree to give up ownership of their belongings in the building. When a housing unit was rented, meaning the owner and the dwellers were different, and the building was too dangerous for dwellers to go in to get their belongings, they had no way to rescue them as usually the owner preferred to do the subsidized demolition.

Kobe Airport Project against Citizens' Will

　　　This is one of the biggest examples of the above-mentioned "already existing" projects. According to a newspaper research held in 1997, despite the slogan Kobe city holds up "The airport is the symbol of reconstruction", 52% said the airport was not necessary, 20% think the project should be frozen, while 20% are for it. The reasons against are as follows; Sea environment can be deteriorated as it is to be built on a artificial island; The air safety cannot be secured as there are already two other airports exist; Economic impetus cannot be expected as much as Kobe city declares as the city government estimate the economic influence based on data during the bubble economy; It cannot be a disaster prevention station as there is a active fault just under the scheduled location. Information concerned with the safety, environment, necessity, cost, etc. has not been disclosed.
　　　Several citizen groups in Kobe together conducted a signature-collecting campaign to demand the establishment of the inhabitants' poll regulation to ask citizens whether or not they think the airport is needed. It is stipulated in the Local Government Act that if signatures collected are more than one-fiftieth of eligible voters, the establishment of the inhabitants' poll regulation can be demanded. The number of signatures collected was 307,797, which was 26.60% of eligible voters in Kobe and well over the required percentage.
　　　The Kobe mayor and the Kobe city assembly, however, dismissed the outcome of the campaign. They said that the project had been decided by the assembly the members of which had been elected by the citizens and therefore the decision of the assembly represented the citizens' desire. They denied that the decision of the assembly is a violation of democracy.
　　　As a result, the inhabitants' poll regulation was not established in Kobe. No inhabitants' poll was conducted, and construction work on the airport is under way.

Official Reports

　　　Governments of various levels have issued report to review the restoration measures and situation. Almost all the contents are to appraise the results of reconstruction measures well and seem to regard the works as having been finished. The members to review, very often selected by the government, were taken to sites and departments chosen by the government.

Care for Mental and Physical Condition of the Elderly

　　　The number of care givers and officials for disaster reconstruction housing has been decreasing since 1999, 5 years after the quake. So has the number of care rounds for the elderly and those with problems. From next April, after a budget review, these numbers may decrease even further despite the fact that the elderly are in an even more severe situation as they are older than at the time of the earthquake.
　　　The number of reconstruction advisers for individuals provided by the prefectural government is also being reviewed and will probably be reduced.

Measures for Small- to Middle-Sized Enterprises

　　　There are some special measures like special loans with a period of deferment of 5 years for small to middle-sized enterprises. Now that the period has expired, many of the debtors are, facing a monthly repayment, which very often is quite a huge amount. Their sales and business results, however, have not recovered partially due to the fact that people have not come back to their original area, and partially the to the fact that large-sized businesses and shops with much stronger competitiveness have made their way into the area.

Population

　　　The governments often refer to the population of the areas as proof of having "achieved" recovery. It has recovered from a figure which dropped considerably immediately after the quake and, in some areas, has exceeded that of a time before the quake. However, this increase does not mean that those who were evacuated have come back. Many are newcomers.
　　　There has been no research on how many of those who were evacuated could come back, or how many of the current population were living there before the quake and are currently living there. A scholar estimates the proportion of those who could rebuild their housing in the areas which experienced the level 7th on the Japanese seismic scale is only about 60%. A supporter of one of the worst damaged area says it is around 30% who could come back in the area devastated by fire.

Personal Compensation

　　　Many people including victims, supporters and some scholars and politicians have been claiming the necessity for personal compensation measures to enable the quake-affected people to rebuild or repair their housing with fewer problems. The governments, however, have been arguing that such measures do not go along with the system of private ownership.
　　　Many of the severely affected victims, being required to rebuild their lives which includes housing solely by their own efforts, and , in many cases, having lost the foundation of their lives in various ways, are still struggling with the effort of so called "Jijo, (self- reliance)" recovery.
　　　The "Subsidy Payments to Earthquake Victims", established under pressure from such voices, was too little, too late for some cases and too limited.

Cf:　A great amount of taxpayers' money (over 1.9 billion between April 1998 and March 2001 according to the Finance Ministry) was put to rescue financial institution, which had broken down as a result of their own business practices.