Japan’s Quake Survivors Still in Temporary Homes 3 Years On
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Chikako Nishihara, 64, has been living in a 215-square-foot (20-square-meter) temporary apartment in Sendai prefecture with her eldest son since Japan’s deadliest earthquake in March 2011 left her home uninhabitable.
“It’s cold in the winter and the walls are so thin that you can hear our neighbors’ footsteps; they must hear us too,” said Nishihara, whose heart condition has worsened since the catastrophe. “We thought about buying, but because of my illness, I can’t take out loans. The only way out of this is to move to public housing.”