ANALYSIS: Why was Japan's aid for quake, tsunami survivors so slow?

By Takehiko Kambayashi Mar 23, 2011, 3:02 GMT

Kyoto, Japan - Japan is known for its abundance of food and everyday commodities, leaving some to wonder why it has taken so long to get supplies to the area hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Hundreds of thousands of people in north-eastern Japan are still spending nights without heating, hot meals or electricity as the temperatures are expected to fall below freezing.

Soon after the earthquake and tsunami, Prime Minister Naoto Kan described the disaster as the 'worst crisis since World War II.'

But the government has been criticized for its slow response as evacuees complain of severe shortages of food, fuel and other basics.

Some critics said Kan, who took office nine months ago, had been paying too much attention to the crisis at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant, which is facing a potential meltdown.

Critics said the government was failing to put enough effort into relief activities for victims.

Toshiyuki Shikata, law professor at Teikyo University and a former general in the Self-Defence Forces, said it was legitimate to focus on the nuclear crisis. But he said the problem was that Kan's cabinet had 'very poor coordination' with other agencies and groups.

Shikata said Kan had created many posts, but the problem was a 'lack of chain of command.'

'You need a chain-of-command structure at a time of crisis like this,' Shikata said. 'The prime minister tends to rely on others too much.'

Shikata also said Kan's appointments were not based on experience or ability, in particular that of Yoshito Sengoku as deputy chief cabinet secretary, who is effectively in charge of relief activities.

Shikata also said that the recent disaster was much more complex to deal with than the 1995 Kobe earthquake, which killed more than 6,400, but in a less isolated area, and with no tsunami.

'In the case of the Kobe earthquake, Osaka is so close that some people walked to Kobe,' Shikata said.

In the north-east of the country, where the disaster hit on March 11, 'There were many isolated villages and towns in mountains and small communities are scattered over a vast area,' he said. 'Mobile phone connections and the landline phone service were severely affected.'

Kensuke Onishi, chief executive of Peace Winds Japan, a Tokyo-based international non-governmental organization, said in a column in the daily Asahi that he had seen a 'vulnerable delivery chain' of food to the afflicted area.

A robust mechanism for the food deliveries to an estimated 500,000 people has not yet been established, Onishi said.

Onishi said there was an urgent need to coordinate with companies willing to offer help and non-profit organizations that can be involved in assistance.

Mao Sato, a spokeswoman for Peace Winds Japan, which dispatched eight members to the affected region, said one of the most serious problems this time was a severe shortage of fuel.

An increasing number of companies and individuals have offered help to her organization, but they face lack of transport, Sato said.

'Even if a large truck loaded with relief supplies manages to reach the afflicted area, there are very few means of transport to distribute them' from there to communities, Sato said.

The organization also expected difficulties in driving through the region, she said.

The tremor and subsequent tsunami damaged 1,450 roads and 51 bridges and triggered 120 landslides, the National Police Agency said.

The levels of the damage this time were 'unprecedented' in terms of the size of the afflicted area and the number of evacuees, Sato said.

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