Distress money

March 28, 2012

Prefecture to fund distressed Fukushima victims

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120328_09.html

Fukushima Prefecture says it will make cash payments to people in municipalities not eligible for full compensation from Tokyo Electric Power Company for the emotional distress caused by last year's nuclear accident.

The prefecture says it will pay 200,000 yen, or about 2,400 dollars, to each pregnant woman and to children 18 and younger in 17 municipalities in the Aizu region of western Fukushima.

It also says it will pay about 1,200 dollars each to expectant mothers and children in 9 other municipalities in southern Fukushima.

TEPCO has promised payments of about 2,400 dollars each to pregnant women and children in those 9 municipalities, which are excluded by state panel guidelines from receiving higher sums.

The prefecture says it will also pay about 480 dollars each to everyone else in Aizu and southern Fukushima.

The money will come from a fund set up by the prefecture for the nuclear accident victims. The central government has offered to contribute about 480 million dollars to the fund.