local governments and other organizations have offered to provide personnel and materials. Further, on April 8 the ministry sent requests to each of the prefectural governors asking for their cooperation with accepting and disposing of debris, and arrangements are being made to put in place a nationwide disposal system for the debris. In Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures, which suffered especially severe damage, committees of national and local governments have been established for quick response to disaster waste based on the local circumstances, and specific consultations have been held. Through these efforts, as of May 10 there were 329 locations secured to temporarily place debris and a total of 3.49 million tons of debris has been transported to those temporary locations.

In addition, in order for disposal of debris to carry out smoothly, the government gave notice of guidelines about methods for removal and disposal of things such as damaged buildings, automobiles, and ships, handling precious metals, and handling private properties such as Buddhist memorial tablets and photo albums in order to dispose of such items (Table 5-1-1). The government also gave notice of guidelines urging caution in disposing of and handling waste asbestos, PCB waste, infectious waste mixed in the debris, computers, automobiles and other items subject to the Home Appliance Recycling Act. As for pollution from radioactive substances, because it is necessary to take all possible measures for safety, the short-term handling of disaster waste in Fukushima Prefecture was made public on May 2, and the Ministry of the Environment and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency are conducting surveillance and holding briefing sessions for relevant municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture.

As for expenses required when local governments dispose of waste caused by the disaster, conventionally half of expenses are subsidized for local governments that conduct such disposal, using disaster waste disposal operating expense subsidies that are based on the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law. However, for the disposal costs for debris caused by this major earthquake, the Law Related to Special Financial Aid and Assistance for Dealing with the Great East Japan Earthquake raised the percentage of national subsidies, and the monetary amount is handled using disaster response loans for local governments in the disaster areas in the law, and 100% of the repayment of interest on those loans is to be made into tax allocation measures.

## (2) Support for victim in Disaster Areas

## A) The State of Household Garbage and Excrement Disposal

In the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster areas, it is also necessary to deal with disposal of household, excrement and trash from evacuation shelters. For that reason, to local governments that offered support, vacuum vehicles and garbage collection trucks dispatched from other local governments and related industrial groups, and temporary toilets were provided.

In Iwate Prefecture, in order to secure a system for collecting excrement immediately after the disaster occurred, industrial groups provided support (approximately 30 trucks from outside the prefecture) and excrement was collected. In Miyagi Prefecture, excrement was collected by vacuum vehicles donated by industrial groups and local governments to areas affected by the disaster. The 8 vehicles were donated

Figure 5-1-1 The Situation in Disaster Areas

Heaps of debris in front of Sendai Airport Station

Temporary location for debris

Photos: Ministry of the Environment

Damaged automobiles

Removal of debris using heavy machinery