What about Fukushima evacuees?

December 5, 2014

Editorial: Politicians have responsibility to offer Fukushima residents optimism

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20141205p2a00m0na012000c.html

Fukushima Prefecture is still struggling to restore areas that have been contaminated with radioactive substances from the tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant and to put victims' lives back in order while being uncertain about the future.

Three years and nine months have passed since the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. More than 120,000 people, or one in 16 prefectural residents, are still unable to return home and are taking shelter elsewhere. Of them, approximately 46,000 are living outside Fukushima Prefecture.

Over 2,800 residents of Iitate, roughly half the village population, filed a petition with the government's Nuclear Damage Compensation Dispute Resolution Center last month, demanding an increase in the amount of compensation they receive over the disaster, which has forced all residents to take shelter outside the village.

One of the petitioners, a woman who has been living at a temporary housing complex, has told the Mainichi Shimbun, "I think I'm a refugee."

There were political party leaders who delivered their first campaign speeches in Fukushima. However, candidates and high-ranking officials of political parties are not enthusiastically talking about Fukushima disaster relief and recovery measures during the ongoing campaign for the Dec. 14 general election. Evacuees cannot help but wonder when they can go home, and where they should settle down if they cannot return. All political parties and individual candidates should waste no time in showing a clear road map toward putting Fukushima evacuees' lives back in order to prevent these victims from becoming rootless wanderers.

At the end of last year, the government announced its policy of speeding up Fukushima's disaster recovery but gave up its goal of ensuring all evacuees return home. It is a realistic decision since there are areas where evacuation orders cannot be lifted in the foreseeable future. However, those who cannot return where they used to live need new jobs, new residences and certain amounts of compensation. The government has not played an appropriate role in supporting these evacuees.

A typical example is the failure to settle disputes over compensation. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, has kept rejecting recommendations for settlements by the Nuclear Damage Compensation Dispute Resolution Center, which is a government body. For instance, TEPCO has not complied with recommendations by the center that the utility increase the amount of compensation for mental anguish to each of some 15,000 residents of Namie by 50,000 yen a month.

The issue of compensation has cast a shadow over evacuees' enthusiasm about returning home. Residents of some evacuation zones in the city of Tamura and the village of Kawauchi were split over the government's decision to lift evacuation orders earlier this year. This is apparently because TEPCO is expected to stop paying compensation to evacuees one year after evacuation orders are lifted in principle.

Whether evacuees aim to return home by all means or give up such hope depends on the generations of evacuees and their family composition -- particularly whether they have young children among other factors.

Legislation to support the livelihoods of children and other victims of the disasters was proposed the year before last as a lawmaker-initiated bill, and unanimously passed into law. The law is aimed primarily at respecting the will of residents, returnees and evacuees and supporting their livelihoods.

Those affected by the disasters see this move as politicians' rejection of the government's bureaucratic methods based on the assumption that all the evacuees would return home. However, the law has rarely been applied to support disaster victims.

In particular, residents need support for their efforts to secure housing. It is the role of politicians to convince Fukushima residents that they have a bright future.

December 05, 2014(Mainichi Japan)