Ten days later, first rebuilding begins in Japan's disaster zone
Temporary housing is taking shape next to an evacuation centre in this northern Japanese town, among the first places where rebuilding from the devastating earthquake and tsunami 10 days ago has begun. Authorities aim to start moving families out of the cramped shelters where they have lived on mats -- separated from neighbours by only cardboard -- and into the houses by the end of the month.
"They have no privacy. They can't even stretch their legs at night when they sleep because they might hit another person," said Tsutomu Nakai, who helps run the evacuation centre in the gymnasium of a junior high school in Rikuzentakata. "We have around 1,000 people sheltering here in the school and I think that they will be the first to get housing. We hope to allow people to move into these temporary shelters just as soon as they are completed," Nakai said.
Steel structures, with walls and wood floors, have been erected in the parking lot of the school, which is on a hilltop overlooking the debris and devastated remains of the town. Coastal Rikuzentakata was a town of 23,000, mostly elderly people. About 740 were killed in the earthquake and tsunami. More than 1,700 remain missing. Mud-strewn mounds, mostly wood planks, glass and stones from houses where the town once stood, stretch for miles. Firemen are still slowly sifting through the debris, looking for bodies.