How do you feed, transport and care for 5 million people? The Tokyo Metropolitan Government needs to answer that question after a recent Cabinet Office survey found that more than 5 million people were stranded in the Tokyo metropolitan area after the March 11 earthquake.
The Cabinet Office's estimate revealed 3.5 million Tokyo residents and commuters and hundreds of thousands of residents and commuters of Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama and Ibaraki prefectures were unable to return home. That stranded slice of the area's population is larger than that of most world cities.
Unfortunately, the enormity of the problem of feeding, sheltering and providing for that number of people has yet to be sufficiently addressed. The 5 million figure is surely a low estimate. An estimated 40 million people use Tokyo area trains and subways on an average day. Tokyo Vice Gov. Naoki Inose announced an ordinance calling on companies in Tokyo to stockpile three days' worth of water and emergency food. That is a small step in the right direction, but it is evident that much more needs to be done.