Kawauchi residents wary about lifting of evacuation order

September 30, 2014

Gov't to lift evacuation order for Fukushima village, but residents wary

Chika Akimoto, the only sixth-grader at Kawauchi Elementary School in Kawauchi, Fukushima Prefecture, receives instruction in September 2014. (Mainichi)

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140930p2a00m0na005000c.html

The Japanese government is poised to lift an evacuation order for part of the Fukushima prefectural village of Kawauchi within 20 kilometers of the disaster-struck Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant on Oct. 1, setting most parts of the municipality free of restrictions.

The lifting of the evacuation order will almost set the stage for Kawauchi, the first local government that declared its administration will "return home" after the outbreak of the nuclear disaster, to make good on the plan 3 1/2 years after its evacuation. But residents of the village remain wary.

Kawauchi will be the second municipality within 20 kilometers of the crippled nuclear power station to have its evacuation order rescinded after the lifting in April of an evacuation order for the Miyakoji district of Tamura, its neighboring city to the north.

The population of Kawauchi is about 2,800. People have been allowed to live in the western part of the village, which is located at least 20 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant, since its designation as an emergency evacuation preparation zone was lifted six months after the outbreak of the disaster. According to the Kawauchi Municipal Government, about half of Kawauchi residents have moved the basis of their livelihoods to the village. With the planned lifting of the evacuation order, the designation of the eastern part of the village within 20 kilometers of the nuclear plant as an "emergency evacuation preparation zone" will be lifted, making it possible for 139 households, or 275 residents, to return to live there. An area of 54 residents in 18 households in the eastern part of the village will be reclassified as an evacuation preparation zone from a "residence restriction zone."

Seishu Ono, 53, whose house sits within 20 kilometers of the nuclear power plant, has been taking shelter in a rental housing unit provided by the Fukushima Prefectural Government in the Fukushima prefecture city of Iwaki. His 3-year-old son, Masahiro, who was born after the nuclear disaster, has never been to his father's hometown. "The Kawauchi of old was surrounded by nature and the elderly men and women of the village watched over children. It was the best place for raising children, but it is different now," said Ono.

An incineration facility for contaminated waste is scheduled to be built near Ono's house, and there are also multiple storing facilities nearby for contaminated soil which was produced in the process of decontamination. The term of his rental housing unit will expire in March 2016, but Ono plans to find a new job in Iwaki as he lost his employment in the wake of the nuclear disaster, as well as find a day-care center for Masahiro in the same city and continue to live there.

Genzaburo Owada, 79, and his 77-year-old wife Roku restarted their life at their old home in a zone within 20 kilometers of the crippled nuclear power station in June. "With our house right before our eyes, we couldn't just abandon our hometown," said Genzaburo. But they are still reluctant to relinquish their temporary housing unit where they took shelter in the western part of the village. That's because before the disaster, Genzaburo used to stop by a supermarket in Futaba near the nuclear power station on his way home from work. But today, they can rely only on a mobile store that visits the temporary housing complex twice a week. Genzaburo said, "Young people will not come back because it has become inconvenient. Someday, Kawauchi will really disappear."

Some residents are opting to stay in a temporary housing complex in the Fukushima prefecture city of Koriyama where many Kawauchi villagers live. A 46-year-old woman returned to a temporary housing unit after going back to the village and suffering a brain hemorrhage there. She now commutes to a hospital in Koriyama once a week for outpatient treatment. "Before the nuclear accident, there were hospitals equipped with facilities for inpatients and emergency care in the towns of Tomioka and Okuma. ... But now there is only a clinic in the village," she said, while rubbing her still-paralyzed left arm.

Chika Akimoto, 12, is the lone sixth-grader at Kawauchi Elementary School, the only elementary school in the village. In the summer of 2013 her classmate who evacuated outside of Fukushima Prefecture said, "I want to return to Kawauchi, but my father and mother say 'no.'" Chika decided to accept the fact that children must listen to what adults say. According to the elementary school, the number of its students dropped to 28 from the pre-disaster total of 114. No additional students are expected to return to the school in October when the evacuation order is lifted, the school says.

The central government says that it is not "compulsory" for local residents to return to the village. But 100,000-yen monthly compensation payments for psychological distress will be terminated one year after the lifting of the evacuation order. Atsushi Shida, who heads a non-profit organization that supports residents in temporary housing in Koriyama, said, "Kawauchi village used to depend on coastal towns for education and medical services. I wonder if its former residents can really live there now even if they are urged to return to the village, with the coastal areas yet to be rebuilt."