information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
22 Février 2012
NAHA--A children's event in Naha that was to have used snow shipped in from Aomori Prefecture has been canceled after some March 11 disaster evacuees living in the city raised concerns that the snow might be contaminated with radiation.
The Naha municipal government decided Tuesday to cancel the event, which was scheduled to be held Thursday, even though the snow had been checked and deemed safe.
Aomori Prefecture is several hundred kilometers north of Fukushima Prefecture, where the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located.
According to sources, 630 kilograms of snow from Towada, Aomori Prefecture, was packed into 25 boxes and carried to Naha by Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol airplanes last Thursday. Radiation levels in the snow were measured when the boxes were taken on and off the planes, and the readings were found to be at safe levels.
The Naha municipal government explained the snow was safe to the evacuees at a meeting Monday. However, they were unable to assuage the evacuees' concerns.
"I can't trust the explanations given by the central government and the municipal government," one evacuee said.
A spokesman for the MSDF's Naha-based 5th Fleet Air Wing, which flew the snow to the Okinawa Prefecture capital, said: "Many children were looking forward to the event, so it's a shame it has been canceled. But the feelings of the evacuees can't be ignored."
However, one expert has criticized the Naha government's decision to cancel the event, in which children were to play in the snow.
"Under the current circumstances, radioactive materials aren't being scattered in the air, and people don't have to worry about radiation exposure through snow," said Atsushi Kumagai, a doctor of Nagasaki University Hospital. "If people just assume that everything from the Tohoku region is dangerous, they won't be able to make rational decisions" about whether there is a health risk.
"People should look at this matter calmly," Kumagai added.
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