Okuma doesnt want to be divided

March 29, 2012

Fukushima town seeks long-term designation as no-go zone

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120329p2a00m0na016000c.html

A Fukushima Prefecture town affected by the ongoing nuclear crisis is set to ask the national government to designate the whole town as a zone where residents will unlikely be able to return in the foreseeable future.

Okuma Mayor Toshitsuna Watanabe announced the plan during a session of the municipal assembly held at the temporary town office in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, on March 28. Okuma will be the first municipality in nuclear disaster-hit areas to ask that its entire area be designated as such.

After listening to the opinions of assembly members as well as local residents, the town will consult with the central government. "We'd like to coordinate views within the town by the end of April," the mayor said.

The national government is considering re-designating evacuation zones in 11 cities, towns and villages in the prefecture. Specifically, it plans to reorganize affected areas into three levels -- seriously contaminated zones where residents are highly unlikely to be allowed to return in the foreseeable future, restricted zones where residents can temporarily return and zones where residents are likely to return once decontamination has been done and the living environment improved.

Over 90 percent of Okuma residents live in areas that the national government plans to designate as zones where they are unlikely to be able to return in the near future.

Therefore, Mayor Watanabe wants the entire town to be designated as such a zone because he does not want the town's community to be divided.

He also said all residents should receive compensation for the nuclear crisis under the same standards.

In a related development, the Futaba Municipal Government in Fukushima Prefecture is poised to refuse any re-designation of evacuation zones in the town.

A national government official visited the municipal government's temporary office in Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, on March 28 and met with Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa, but stopped short of offering any specific redesignation plan.

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