届かない義援金 応援要員投入し迅速な支給を

>>>具体的な金額は自治体の裁量に委ねられる。
こんなんじゃ、もう誰もドネーションをしなくなってしまう。
被災者への分配は、すみやかに、かつ大胆にお願いしたい。
多少の不公平が出てくるのは、災害の性質から、仕方のないことなのだから。
全壊・半壊で線引きせずに、被災地域の住民に均等に配分したらどうか。
（スラチャイ）

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jun. 9, 2011)
Govt should send staff to help distribute donations
届かない義援金　応援要員投入し迅速な支給を（6月8日付・読売社説）

Nearly three months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, only about 15 percent of donations collected through various channels is said to have reached people affected by the disaster.
　東日本大震災の発生から、まもなく３か月になるというのに、被災者の手元には、集まった義援金の１５％程度しか届いていないという。

The distribution of this money has been extremely slow. The central government and local governments in disaster-hit areas must make all-out efforts to promptly pass these relief funds to disaster victims.
　あまりに遅い。政府と被災自治体は、速やかな支給に全力をあげるべきだ。

A panel administered by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to decide on which areas should get how much of this money has compiled a report on the actual situation regarding the provision of these funds.
　厚生労働省が事務局を務める義援金配分割合決定委員会が、義援金の支給状況などをまとめた。

A total of about 250 billion yen has been donated through such organizations as the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Central Community Chest of Japan.
　これまで、日本赤十字社や中央共同募金会などに寄せられた義援金は約２５００億円。

Of this, about 80 billion yen has been sent to 15 disaster-affected prefectural governments as the first batch of relief funds, but less than half of this--about 15 percent of the total donations--has reached victims' pockets.
うち約８００億円が第１次分として、被災した１５都道県に送金された。

The rest of the money is expected to be given to disaster-hit prefectures in a second round of distribution.
　残りも第２次分として被災各県に配分される。

One standard for money handed out has been that owners of "totally destroyed" homes get the twice the amount given to owners of "partly destroyed" homes.
その基準は、全壊世帯に半壊の２倍支給する、といったものだ。

Decisions on the actual amount of money to be distributed are left up to each local government.
具体的な金額は自治体の裁量に委ねられる。

===

More flexibility needed

It is disturbing that much of the donated money has not reached disaster victims.
　問題は義援金が被災者に届かないことである。

Part of the problem stems from the fact that many local governments lost their administrative functions due to the March 11 disaster and are unable to arrange procedures for distributing money to disaster-affected people.
行政機能が損なわれ、支給事務まで手が回らない自治体が多いことが要因だ。

There have been significant delays in work to determine whether a house has been completely or partly destroyed and in issuing disaster damage certificates verifying the level of property damage.
全壊・半壊などを認定し、罹災(りさい)証明を発行する業務も滞っている。

Donations directly provided to disaster-hit local governments from a number of organizations, including the Yomiuri Light and Humanity Association charity, have also reported similar problems.
　「読売光と愛の事業団」など、様々な団体を通じて、被災自治体に直接寄託された義援金も事情は変わらない。

We think the central government should send a sufficient number of staff to help the distribution of money and improve the situation.
　国は事態を改善できる規模で応援要員を送り込むべきだ。

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa has at last announced a plan to survey the actual situation facing local governments that have been unable to distribute donations quickly, and send staff to help if necessary.
細川厚労相はようやく、支給が遅れている自治体の事情を調べて、必要なら人員を派遣する方針を示した。

We hope the government will swiftly implement these measures.
迅速に取り組んでもらいたい。

There also needs to be more flexibility in making official designations of damage levels.
　もっと柔軟に被災を認定することも必要だ。

Private insurance companies have simplified procedures for earthquake insurance payouts by recognizing all houses in certain areas, based on satellite photos, as having been totally destroyed.
　民間の地震保険の場合、損害保険会社は、衛星写真をもとに一定地域内の家屋はすべて全壊とするなど認定を簡略化している。

The insurance industry as a whole has paid out more than 900 billion yen to about 500,000 policyholders.
業界全体でこれまでに約５０万件、９０００億円以上を支払った。

===

Delays invite disappointment

Although it is only natural that donations should be distributed fairly, it would be pointless if the money does not reach disaster victims when they need it for living and other expenses.
　義援金の分配は、公平性を重んじるのが当然としても、被災者が当座の生活資金などを必要とする時に届かなければ意味がない。

We are concerned that the delay in distribution may have disappointed people across the nation and around the world who have generously sent donations.
善意を寄せた日本中、世界中の人を失望させていないだろうか。

We hope officials in affected areas will make innovative efforts to pass on donated money as soon as possible by giving consideration to the actual situation on the ground, such as by uniformly providing people in certain areas with an amount of money for partial damage as a provisional measure before getting around to officially categorizing the damage as complete or partial.
　地域によっては、全壊か半壊かの認定はおいて暫定的に半壊分を一律支給するなど、実情に応じて早く届ける工夫をしてほしい。

There have been questions raised about flaws in the law covering paying condolence money from public coffers to people who lost family members in the disaster.
　家族が死亡した人に公費から支給される災害弔慰金も、法律の不備が指摘されている。

Siblings are not included in the definition of bereaved relatives under the law on providing such disaster condolence grants.
　災害弔慰金法が定める「遺族」の範囲に兄弟姉妹が含まれていない。

This means that a man who lost his elder brother, with whom he had been living, is not entitled to receive condolence money.
このため、兄弟２人暮らしをしていて、兄が亡くなった場合、弟に弔慰金は出ない。

Claiming that such cases are not exceptional in the March 11 disaster, a group of lawyers last week called on the government to revise the law.
　今回の震災ではこうした事例が少なくないとして、弁護士グループが先週、法改正を政府に要請した。

We believe this is worth considering.
検討すべきではないか。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 8, 2011)
（2011年6月8日01時25分 読売新聞）