Still haunted by radiation fear

 March 7, 2014

Survey: 74% of voluntary evacuees not returning

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140307_34.html 

An NHK survey has found that many voluntary evacuees from Fukushima are still haunted by radiation fears and plan to live outside the prefecture for good.

NHK conducted the survey ahead of the 3rd anniversary of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Following the March 2011 accident, at least 25,000 people who lived outside government-designated evacuation zones left the prefecture voluntarily. NHK received responses from 307 such people.

Results show that 74 percent are planning to stay where they are now or find a new place to settle down. Some of these people had returned to Fukushima at one point but decided to flee again. Many of them cited fears about radiation and possible exposure.

65 percent of the respondents said their household budgets are squeezed, due mostly to a decline in income and savings. Transportation costs were also cited as a heavy burden.

Voluntary evacuees are subject to partial waivers of expressway tolls and limited housing support under a government program.

The survey respondents included 129 households in which the husbands are staying in Fukushima but their wives live separately.

97 percent of them said the husbands have work in the prefecture. 25 percent of the couples cited conflicting views on evacuation and radiation as the reasons for living apart.

37 percent of the couples that live apart said family ties have deteriorated.

60 percent said they were consulting their partners less about personal concerns and about 70 percent said they talk less.

23 percent of the overall respondents had divorced or were planning to divorce.

Kenichiro Kawasaki co-leads an aid group called the Save Fukushima Children Lawyers' Network that is supporting the voluntary evacuees.

Kawasaki says the evacuees need thorough assistance that serves their needs. He notes they have the right to evacuate under law, so they should be granted necessary support to ease the financial strain of being displaced for a long time.

Mar. 7, 2014 - Updated 09:47 UTC