Noto Quake Liquefaction hampering land boundary redrawing

Both the town of Uchinada and the neighbouring city of Kahoku in Ishikawa Prefecture were hit by a widespread lateral flow, in which the ground shifts sideways, when the 7.6-magnitude quake caused the soil to behave like liquid in the phenomenon known as liquefaction.
   
While the local governments hope to set the post-quake boundaries based on the land situation after the liquefaction, the central government holds on to its legal interpretation that existing lines drawn under the parcel boundary system, which establishes boundaries based on real estate registration documents, should not be altered.
   
Liquefaction during the Noto quake caused a lateral flow of up to 3 metres along a prefectural road running north to south through Uchinada and Kahoku.
   
A 44-year-old resident of Uchinada said he will remove concrete walls separating his home from his neighbour's to prevent a dispute from arising, as his property may be encroaching on his neighbour's registered area as a result of the lateral flow.
   
"I can't wait for years until the (revised) land boundaries are formalised," said the resident, who bought his home four years ago. "I'd like to live without worries."

The local governments of Ishikawa, Uchinada and Kahoku believe that the boundaries should be established under the postliquefaction situation. They urged the country to allow land registration based on the results of a cadastral survey to remeasure the area and replot the boundary location for each plot of land.
  
On the other hand, the central government upholds a Supreme Court ruling that legal land boundaries cannot be changed just with an agreement by relevant landowners.
   
For drawing new boundaries in areas that went through significant land movements, the central government thinks it necessary for landowners to carry out parcel subdivision or consolidation, in which land is divided up or transferred among the owners for fresh registration, or for local governments to undertake property rezoning in such areas.
   
Both options pose heavy burdens to residents and procedural difficulties. The local governments are negative about the options, saying that five to ten years would pass without progress on establishing the revised land boundaries.
   
In the past, the central government made an exception to its policy, holding that boundaries based on land registrations should not be altered.

The 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, which mainly hit Kobe in western Japan, led to large-scale land shifts and elevations.
   
The central government at the time issued a notice that if the ground surface moves horizontally in a wide area due to crustal movements, parcel boundaries will be altered accordingly. It said, however, that parcel boundaries would not be changed for cases of localised surface movement, such as landslides.
   
The lateral flow caused by the Noto quake falls under localised surface movement, the central government says.
   
The central government cannot change its legal interpretation casually, as that could cause some people to lose land because their plots were crushed by others in the lateral flow, an official said.
   
Aiming to find a solution to the boundary issue, a team comprising members of the central and three local governments was launched on Thursday. It will discuss the possibility of a legislative review and a simplification of procedures for rezoning by local governments.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]