Request to the Japanese Government for Basic Income Security for Recovery and Material Provision for Life Reestablishment after the Earthquake Disaster

1. Request Summary

We request the Japanese government:

• To provide unconditional secured basic income for individual sufferer.

• To provide semi-permanent medical services for the sufferers and those who a re exposed to radiation.

• To build temporary housing immediately in which the sufferers can maintain the social networks in their communities of origin.

• To establish adequate institutions and support system as well as mental care services immediately for underage children who lost their parents.

• To strengthen supports for the elderly and handicapped people, single parents, sexual minorities, and non-Japanese resident s. To strengthen suppo rt for families with those dependent on care by building nursing homes and increasing the number of care supporters immediately.

• To provide automobiles for the sufferers. To stop declining request for public assistance because of owning a car.

• To provide compensatory income for all workers in the affected areas by the earthquake . To make a plan to prevent dismissal s and lay-off of the sufferers. To provide secured basic income, employment planning, and further social security services for people all over Japan who are affected by the earthquake, such as those who lost their jobs in Hokkaido and Eastern Japan.

2. Accounts for Our R equest

• Currently a number of people are applying for public assistance. They are risking their lives during the eligibility assessment process. Furthermore, some local administration bodies have not been functioning since the disaster. It is expected that the government provides unconditional secured basic income for individual sufferer immediately.

• Results from longitudinal studies of Chernobyl indicate that childhood thyroid cancer will increase in the next several years after the nuclear power plant blast. We request that the government will reestablish th e medical system immediately, pay all medical costs, and manufacture necessary medicines.

• One of the major social problems after Great Hanshin Earthquake was lonely deaths among the sufferers living in temporary housing. We request the government to make plans that prevent lonely deaths of the sufferers in temporary housing.

• The presence of children who lost their parents in the disaster has been known since early A pril, but foster institutions are already full throughout Japan. We request immediate construction of new facilities, improvement of the foster parent system, and adequate organization of staffs and teams. We also requ est immediate establishment of adequate support for child ren affected by the disaster.

• Family members providing care for a pe rson in need of care exclaim that they will fall apart before those dependent on care. We request that the government provides more support for both family care providers and those who are on care as well as for professional care workers.

• While a n automobile insurance does no t cover damages caused by a natural disaster, many people in Tohoku completely lost their access to their cars because tsunami waves drifted their cars away to Hokkaido. The affected areas depend on cars for t ransportation, and people cannot even purchase food and fuel without a car. We request that the government provides cars for the sufferers.

• We request  adequate compensation for workers at Fukushima nuclear power plant—especially for subcontract workers and workers who are affected by the disaster and exposed to radiation. Furthermore, the labor market situation in Japan began to decline: the sufferers have been laid off and firms have been collapsed in Tohoku; contract workers have been fired and new workers have been dismissed in Tokyo. W e request t he government to have a discussion with an agenda of basic income security for all citizens in Japan .  

3. A Gathering That Requests Basic Income Security for Recovery and Material Provision for Life Reestablishment after the Earthquake Disaster

The earthquake disaster on March 11 shocked people all over the planet. We will have a gathering with interested persons, including our own union members who are affected by the disaster, under the name of a Gathering That Requests Basic Income Security for Recovery and Material Provisions for Life Reestablishment after the Earthquake Disaster. The aim of the gathering is to request for an immediate provision of (1) unconditional and individual-unit basic income for the sufferers ; (2) adequate medical services and housing; and (3) adequate support for children who lost their parents, children and y outh, older citizens , people with handicap, single parents, sexual minorities, and non-Japanese residents. We also request for compensation for workers at the nuclear power plant and the sufferers who lost jobs. Our ultimate goal is to request for secured basic income and improved social security for the entire Japan.

Time: April 27 (Wed) 11:30-13:30

Location: B109 the House of Councilors Building (Sangiin Kaikan B109)

Panelists

1. Yoshiko Sasaki (a sufferer of the earthquake in Koriyama, Fukushima; care manager and nurse; affected by the disaster while constructing a group home for demented people )

2. Satoshi Kishimoto (a secretary general of Kushiro construction union)

3. Asako Shirasaki (the president of a citi zen group, Female Care Workers for  Safe Work and Income Security )

4. Toru Yamamori (Doshisha University)

5. Message from Masako Sato (a sufferer of the earthquake  in Koriyama, Fukushima ; an ex-plaintiff in the trial for downsizing by laying off temporary workers of Panasonic)

6. Organizer and commentator: Kazuhiro Shirasaki (co-president of Anti-poverty network Tochigi; a sufferer of the earthquake in northern Tochigi)

Appeal from the sufferers by other disasters; messages from overseas; comments from members of parliament of both governing party and opposition party