Our partners and friends in UK and European local government continue to send messages of condolence and goodwill to staff following the tragic events which took place during the Great North East Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11. JLGC remains grateful and moved by the sentiments and\u00a0sympathies of its counterparts in Europe and would like to reflect on the scale of the task now facing local government in Japan, which not only has to contend with rebuilding local communities from a standpoint of devastation but also deal with almost unimaginable losses which impact on all sections of society.<\/p>\n
No more is this\u00a0brought home\u00a0than in the case of the Iwate\u00a0town of Otsuchi, where the UK Guardian<\/em> reports<\/a> this week on the death of its mayor and the task facing residents in rebuilding a town having lost a substantial cadre of its local officials, those who would normally be central to these efforts.\u00a0 The valour of the town’s firefighters is also praised in the Mainichi<\/em><\/a>, on account of their self-less efforts to ensure as many\u00a0local residents\u00a0as possible were out of reach from the tsunami waves.\u00a0 The Asahi Shimbun<\/em>,\u00a0meanwhile, profiles the resolve of its people<\/a> and the feelings\u00a0of communal solidarity which have emerged since the disaster hit.<\/p>\n The Asahi<\/em> also poignantly reports<\/a>\u00a0on Yamada, again in Iwate, where the town hall has become a shrine to the recovered artifacts of local people, including many damaged family photo albums.\u00a0 The Mainichi<\/em> meanwhile<\/a> details the complexity of continuity of local service provision to Japan’s ageing population in the affected areas, with the need for cooperation between disaster-hit municipalities and willing local authorities capable of stepping in to assist.\u00a0 The Yomiuri<\/em>\u00a0also reports<\/a> on how local governments in the disaster zones have turned to social networking sites such as Twitter in their efforts to communicate timely information to residents, especially as their main website servers crashed amid the quake.<\/p>\n In Miyagi Prefecture, local authorities are facing up to the necessary task of arranging burials<\/a>, as the number of deceased prevents traditional cremation ceremonies.\u00a0\u00a0Detailing the\u00a0less humanitarian but\u00a0nonetheless essential\u00a0practical tasks faced by local authorities in the affected areas, the Yomiuri<\/em> covers<\/a> the efforts by central government to direct municipalities regarding the scrapping of vehicles caught up in the effects of the tsunami which have amassed in some areas.\u00a0 In Fukishima, city employees are involved in arranging essential supplies<\/a> for decimated communities, especially as commercial companies are refusing to enter the area for fear of radiation.<\/p>\n