information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
8 Mars 2015
March 7, 2015
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150307p2a00m0na009000c.html
FUKUSHIMA -- Few residents have returned to two Fukushima Prefecture areas whose evacuation orders were lifted last year, population checks by local municipalities have indicated.
An evacuation order for the eastern part of the village of Kawauchi was lifted in October last year, as was an order for the eastern part of the Miyakoji district of the city of Tamura in April last year.
As of Jan. 1 this year, the Kawauchi quarter's population stood at just 10.5 percent of its registered level. The Tamura section, meanwhile, had only 39.1 percent of its registered population as of the end of November.
The lack of progress in the return of residents to these two quarters is likely to spur discussion on how to encourage people to return to areas where the government plans to lift evacuation orders.
The registered population of Kawauchi as of Jan. 1 this year was 2,739 people, but an investigation by the municipal government found that only 1,581 people actually lived there. Looking only at the eastern section that had its evacuation order removed last year, there was a registered population of 275 people as of June last year, but as of Jan. 1 only 29 people actually lived there.
The eastern part of Tamura's Miyakoji district had a registered population of 340, but only 133 people -- 39.1 percent of the registered figure -- were actually living there when officials checked at the end of November last year.
At the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, the registered population was 380. Using this as a reference point, the proportion of people who have returned stands at 35 percent.
The return of young people, especially, has been slow, due to concerns about employment and lingering radiation, and the populations of these municipalities have become more slanted toward the elderly.
Looking at the whole of Kawauchi, 35.1 percent of the village's population was classed as elderly at the time of the disaster in March 2011, but as of January this year the level had reached 39.8 percent. The corresponding figures for the Miyakoji district were 32.7 percent before the disaster and 34.6 percent afterward.
Hideo Akimoto, chief of the Kawauchi Municipal Government's recovery policy section, commented, "We had seen steady depopulation and graying of the population. This surged after the earthquake disaster. It feels like time has advanced by 20 years."
An official at the Tamura Municipal Government said, "Many people have moved their lives to their evacuation locations, finding work, schools and places to shop there."
March 07, 2015(Mainichi Japan)