New app for evacuees

November 15, 2015

Fukushima Pref. designs app to provide local information for nuclear evacuees

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151115p2a00m0na003000c.html

FUKUSHIMA -- The Fukushima Prefectural Government has built an app for smartphones and tablet computers that offers local news and information for Fukushima residents who have been forced to evacuate in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

The free app offers information about 12 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture that are still under evacuation orders and 18 additional municipalities where many of the residents from those restricted zones and voluntary evacuees currently live. With messages and maps, app users can see various kinds of local information for each municipality, including the facility relocation of elementary, junior and senior high schools, services at local hospitals as well as information on their courtesy shuttles, recruitment information for volunteer workers and event schedules at shopping streets and other establishments.

An official from the prefectural government's information policy division said, "We hope that evacuees use the app to help them in making decisions on returning home."

The app also offers links to job information and it is designed to allow users to easily search for local information on everyday activities.