. >> reporter: i'm in the port town of yamada. about 20,000 people lived here before the earthquake, but about 700 were killed by the tsunami. he is one of the survivors. before march 11, his seafood processing business was thriving. he sold scallops to buyers across the country. but in just 30 minutes, the tsunami destroyed yamada's port. the huge waves washed away the factory and his home, causing an estimated $1 million in damages. >> the first thing i thought was all the scallops were gone. my next thought was that i lost my entire business. the third thing was that i could not pay my debts. i had no idea what to do. >> reporter: but he was determined to rebuild his business. he found other scallop sources in japan, and gradually replenished his stock. in the fall, he is expecting to open a new factory with the government's support. he has also been concerned about his fellow citizens. more than half of families in the town lost their homes in the tsunami. >> translator: the landscape will never come back. that's the hardest p

the shelter at a high school gymnasium in the town of yamada in iwate prefecture shut its doors on wednesday. at one point 103,000 people were living there. now all the evacuees have moved into temporary housing units. >> translator: it was a big effort. it took a long time. >> most of the shelters in fukushima have also closed. the largest one in the prefecture vut on wednesday. about 2,500 people lived in this building in the city of koriyuma at one time. it got so crowded there was barely enough room for everyone to lie down. >> translator: i really hope i'll be happy living in temporary housing. >> it's a different story in miyagi prefecture, though. authorities say they won't finish building 22,000 temporary housing units until mid-september. about 3,700 people are still saying in nearly 140 shelters. 1,800 of those evacuees live in ishinomaki. about 80% of the city's planned temporary housing units have been built so far but only three-quarters of them are occupied. one problem is that some houses are located in inconvenient areas. evacuees are avoiding them because they have a hard ti