Only 135 of Japan’s public schools not quake-resistant

The rate of nonwooden public elementary and junior high school buildings in Japan that have undergone antiseismic improvements stood at 99.9% as of April 1, up 0.1 percentage point from a year before, an education ministry survey showed Tuesday.
In 30 of the country’s 47 prefectures, work to enable buildings to withstand temblors with an intensity of upper 6 or higher on the Japanese seismic scale has been finished at all schools.
The number of school buildings without quake-resistance decreased by 60 to 135.
By prefecture, Ehime saw the lowest proportion of quake-resistant school buildings, at 98.0%, followed by Kochi, at 99.0%, and Yamaguchi, at 99.1%.
By municipality, the town of Rishiri in Hokkaido logged the lowest rate of 75.0%. The city of Kamo in Niigata Prefecture came next, at 78.8%, followed by the city of Nayoro in Hokkaido, at 79.2%.
As reasons for not implementing the improvement, some municipalities answered that they could not start the work because policies on school consolidation have not been decided.