Gov't to lift evacuation order in Nahara

June 17, 2015

Evacuees from Fukushima town get official OK to return home in time for Bon

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201506170090

By AKIFUMI NAGAHASHI/ Staff Writer

IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Residents of the town of Naraha in Fukushima Prefecture will be allowed to return home permanently in early August since being evacuated after the 2011 nuclear disaster, although it's unclear how many will.

The central government said June 17 that it will lift the mandatory evacuation order for Naraha before mid-August.

Town assembly members were informed at their general meeting by government officials that the residents, totaling about 7,400, will be free to return home before the summer’s Bon holiday period.

“We will proceed with procedures to lift the evacuation order so that residents who are willing to return home can resume their lives in their hometown before the Bon holiday,” a government official told assembly members.

After the nuclear disaster unfurled in March 2011, residents were forced to evacuate from seven towns and villages in Fukushima Prefecture and municipal government offices had to relocate. Naraha will be the first among these municipalities to have its evacuation order removed.

A month after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami triggered the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, almost the entire town was designated a no-entry zone, as was all the area extending 20 kilometers in radius from the crippled plant.

In August 2012, the town was redesignated a zone that was being prepared for the lifting of the evacuation order, one of the three categories that is assigned to areas with lower radiation levels.

After progress in decontamination and improvements in infrastructure recovery, the government started a program on April 6 to allow Naraha residents to temporarily stay at home overnight to prepare for their permanent resettlement.

It will organize briefings for local residents to explain the lifting of the evacuation order from June 19.

But less than 10 percent of the 7,400 residents have registered with the temporary-stay program. They have expressed concerns over the slow progress in repair work for private homes and also the radiation levels in their hometown.

And a survey conducted by the Reconstruction Agency last November showed that only 45.7 percent of households in Naraha plan to return home once the evacuation order is lifted.

In the past, the central government has removed mandatory evacuation orders for residents of the Miyakoji district in the city of Tamura and eastern Kawauchi village in Fukushima Prefecture.

Naraha evacuation order to be lifted by mid-August

Jun. 17, 2015 - Updated 09:59 UTC+2

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

The Japanese government plans to lift the evacuation order for a totally deserted town near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant by mid-August.

Naraha is about 12 kilometers from the troubled plant, at the southern end of the designated evacuation zone. All of the town's approximately 7,400 residents were forced to relocate because of the accident.

Economy and industry state minister Yosuke Takagi made the announcement at a town assembly meeting on Wednesday. Takagi serves as head of the government's local task force on the nuclear disaster.

Takagi said the environment is such that the residents can return and resume their lives. He stressed that residents will not be forced to return, and that they will continue to receive government support.

The townspeople have been allowed temporary stays in their homes since April to prepare for the lifting of the evacuation order. Takagi said this will continue until the order is lifted.

Takagi added the government will hold briefings to address the evacuees' concerns about radiation and the shortage of clinics and other infrastructure.

Barring a setback, Naraha will be the first municipality that was totally emptied after the nuclear accident to have its evacuation order lifted.

Gov't to lift evacuation order for Fukushima Prefecture town of Naraha

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150617p2a00m0na016000c.html

NARAHA, Fukushima -- The on-the-spot headquarters of the government's nuclear disaster response task force said here on June 17 that it will lift an evacuation order for the entire town of Naraha in mid-August ahead of the annual "Bon" holiday break.

It will be the third case in which the government lifts a nuclear evacuation order. The government has already lifted evacuation orders for the Miyakoji district of Tamura city and the eastern part of Kawauchi village, both in Fukushima Prefecture. Naraha will be the first among seven towns and villages, which were ordered by the central government to evacuate in their entirety in the wake of the outbreak in March 2011 of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, to have the order lifted.

Yosuke Takagi, who heads the on-the-spot headquarters of the disaster response task force, and other task force officials revealed the plan during a meeting of local town assembly members held at the Naraha Town Assembly hall. They also said the "preparatory lodging" period for which local residents are allowed to return to their hometowns and stay at their original homes to prepare for the lifting of the evacuation order would be extended by about one month from the final day originally set for July 5.

Citing the fact that evacuation orders were lifted for the Miyakoji district of Tamura city and the eastern part of Kawauchi village about three months after their preparatory lodging periods were extended, some Naraha Town Assembly members turned their back on the latest plan, saying it would be "too early" for the evacuation order to be lifted.

The central government emphasized the difference between the case for Naraha and the other two cases in which the local governments and residents started preparatory lodging immediately after the completion of decontamination work. A central government official said, "Naraha has been making preparations to return for more than one year since the central government finished its decontamination work."

According to the on-the-spot headquarters of the disaster response task force, about 10 percent of Naraha's total population of about 7,400 registered for preparatory lodging, and only about 100 of them are actually staying in their homes in the town.