information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
30 Avril 2013
April 29, 2013
Editor's note: This is the fourth part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with how pets and livestock fared in the evacuation zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The series will appear on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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The Fukushima prefectural government finally set up an animal protection headquarters on April 15, 2011, more than a month after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
The Miyagi and Iwate prefectural governments established similar organizations about 10 days after the disaster as they had concluded contracts with related organizations in advance. However, the Fukushima prefectural government had not done so. Therefore, it took time to coordinate the efforts of related organizations.
On the other hand, the government of Niigata Prefecture, which accepted about 10,000 evacuees, showed a much quicker response.
Using experience gained from two major earthquakes--the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake and the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-oki Earthquake--the Niigata prefectural government set up its animal protection headquarters only a week after the March 11, 2011, disaster.
All 30 municipalities in the prefecture established systems to accept pets. Therefore, evacuees were able to live with their dogs or cats in evacuation centers.
In May 2011, the Fukushima prefectural government’s food and sanitation division, which is also in charge of animal protection, began to receive inquiries such as, “Is it possible to enter evacuation centers in Fukushima Prefecture with our pets?”
Those inquiries were from people who had evacuated to Niigata Prefecture but later returned to Fukushima Prefecture.
The Fukushima prefectural government had not considered establishing evacuation centers exclusively for people who had evacuated with their pets.
Veterinarian Jun Kawamata, 53, of Fukushima city, was negotiating with a prefectural government-affiliated organization managing the Azuma Sports Park, the largest evacuation center in Fukushima city, where about 2,400 evacuees were living.
“People with pets are living in their cars as they are not allowed to enter evacuation centers with them. I’m worried that if it becomes hot, they could suffer heatstrokes. You should set up facilities to accommodate pets,” Kawamata told officials of the organization.
However, they rejected the suggestion.
“Even people are cramped in evacuation centers. It is impossible to make space for animals. If we do so, we could receive complaints from evacuees,” one official said.
However, Kawamata repeatedly visited the organization. Then, in mid-May, it finally allowed him to use part of the parking lot as a space for pets.
In early June, the facility, called “Pet Village,” was completed there in a week. A company engaged in pet-related businesses supported its construction at Kawamata’s request.
The facility had two buildings, one for dogs and the other for cats. It was equipped with a water supply and air-conditioning systems and 25 dogs and cats were housed in the facility.
Thanks to Pet Village, Sakae Sato, 68, who had evacuated from Minami-Soma city with his dog and cat, was able to sleep on a floor for the first time in 80 days. He felt the blood flow to the tips of his legs once again.
Until then, he had lived in his car or on stairways installed on the outer walls of buildings. He had entered evacuation centers only to receive aid supplies. From late March 2011, it became difficult for him to grip things with his left hand. As a result, he frequently dropped cups. He also had trouble walking. A doctor told him that he might be suffering from economy-class syndrome (venous thrombosis), which forms blood clots within a vein.
“As I was always with my pet dog and cat, I didn’t feel loneliness. I was able to relax,” Sato said, adding, “Unless I was with them, my appearance would have become older.”
However, numbness in his hands remains.
Sato left the evacuation center in mid-August 2011. The Pet Village finished its mission in about three months.
April 26, 2013
Editor's note: This is the third part of a new series that has run in the past under the title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with how pets and livestock fared in the evacuation zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The series will appear on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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Veterinarian Seido Watanabe of Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, was concerned about the pets of the people who had evacuated from their hometowns due to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
He visited evacuation centers in Koriyama, also in Fukushima Prefecture, where many evacuees were living, and saw many pet owners he was acquainted with. However, he did not see their animals.
“When I got on a bus prepared by the town office (for evacuation), I was told to leave my dog (at home),” one of the owners said.
Another said, “As I thought that I would be able to return home soon, I prepared only water (for my pet).” Every pet owner was weeping.
Some people brought their pets with them. But they were not allowed to bring them into evacuation centers. Therefore, they were living with the animals in their cars in parking lots while shivering in the cold weather.
Many pets were suffering from diarrhea. But Watanabe was impressed by the difficult living conditions their owners were enduring to keep them.
“It is a living hell for pet owners to have left their pets in their houses when they evacuated. But it is also a living hell to have brought their pets with them,” he thought.
Unable to stand watching the owners suffer under miserable living conditions, he decided to keep their pets in a shed he had borrowed in Miharu town, also in Fukushima Prefecture. Though home delivery services were not available there in those days, fellow alumni of his university brought him the things necessary to care for the animals.
However, it was extremely difficult to take care of nearly 40 dogs and cats. On April 5, Watanabe visited the Fukushima Veterinary Medical Association, located in the city of Fukushima, and asked for their assistance. However, his request was refused.
“We are now extremely busy only in confirming the safety of our members,” one of the association officials said.
On his return from the association, Watanabe visited veterinarian Jun Kawamata, 53, of Fukushima city, whom he had been acquainted with for 20 years, and vented his complaints.
Starting in late March 2011, Kawamata was also visiting the Azuma Sports Park, the largest evacuation center in Fukushima city, where about 2,400 evacuees were living. He worked as a volunteer, delivering pet food to owners living in their cars and vaccinating their animals.
A rumor had spread among pet owners that pets would be put down by public health centers if they were found. Therefore, some pet owners suspected that Kawamata’s offer of a free vaccination was a ploy by the Fukushima prefectural government to euthanize their animals.
Watanabe did not see the prefectural government doing anything about pets. So, he asked prefectural government employees stationed in an evacuation center about their duties and priorities.
“We are putting a priority on human lives," one of the employees said. "Please don’t talk about animals now.”
Watanabe and Kawamata thought that their efforts to help evacuees' pets would become long-term ones. They encouraged each other and went their separate ways that day.
In March 2011, the Fukushima prefectural government's food and sanitation division, which is also in charge of animal protection, was in extreme chaos. The section’s tasks ranged widely from food and water to graveyard and burial-related services.
Immediately after the disaster, employees of the section were tasked with a variety of responsibilities, ranging from restoring water service and securing of crematoriums, to checking of radioactive levels of food.
Two employees, who were in charge of animal protection, were busy preparing manuals on preventing the spread of infectious diseases among people living in evacuation centers. Responsibilities for pets were put on the back-burner.
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