Residents in public housing in Sendai, where many people who survived the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, live, are rapidly aging, and residents¡¯ associations are struggling to find people who can serve as board members to work on maintaining the communities.

¡°We have to make it widely recognized that we have no one who can become a new board member,¡± said a section leader of the Mebuki residents¡¯ association ¡ª which comprises residents of the Moniwa No. 2 municipal-run housing complex in Sendai¡¯s Taihaku Ward ¡ª at a regular board meeting held at the building¡¯s meeting place in early February.

The section leader gave the remark as the current board members were discussing who should succeed Yoshiaki Nakano, 76, the association¡¯s chair, whose term will expire at the end of March.