Prime Minister Naoto Kan on April 14 established the 16-member Reconstruction Design Council, headed by Defense Academy President Makoto Iokibe, to draw up a grand plan to reconstruct the areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The reconstruction will be long and difficult work because of the horrific extent of the damage. The impacted Pacific coastal areas stretch some 500 km and the natural disasters have been accompanied by the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The government's immediate task should be removing debris, constructing pre-fabricated houses for disaster victims, restoring traffic networks, rebuilding schools and re-establishing life lines such as city water, sewerage, gas and electricity.