What evacuees in Niigata think of possible restart

 October 24, 2013

Fukushima evacuee family on edge as TEPCO prepares to restart Niigata nuke plant

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131024p2a00m0na015000c.html

NIIGATA -- Fukushima resident Takako Sugiura and her family are one of many families with small children who fled from Fukushima Prefecture to Niigata following the outbreak of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011. While the 43-year-old mother and her family try to settle down in a new environment, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is preparing to restart two nuclear reactors in Niigata.

"I will draw (the character) Anpanman for you. I know you like him," Sugiura's 9-year-old daughter Hina said to her 1-year-old brother Ryota while they played inside their house in Niigata, where the family had fled from their hometown in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture. The children's father, Seiji, works in Fukushima and comes to see the family on weekends.

The 43-year-old father ran a physical therapy clinic in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, but had to close it down as the family left their hometown in the wake of the 2011 disaster. Although Seiji and his family fled outside the prefecture, he returned to Minamisoma three months after the disaster to help Fukushima residents. Seiji travels around the prefecture, visiting temporary housing units to offer physical therapy while searching for an opportunity to open up a clinic in his hometown. Takako respects her husband's will and supports him in Niigata with their two children.

"I remember how I could see the ocean so blue in my hometown. I hope to go back someday with my children," Seiji said.

The Sugiura family spent nights in their car for a week after the earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011 while fleeing from Fukushima. They reached an evacuation shelter in Niigata on March 18. They found out that Takako was expecting another child in August that year, but the mother was worried about the baby's health as she traveled across Fukushima Prefecture as radiation levels were high.

She promised herself that she would save the baby's life no matter what happens. In February 2012, Takako gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Just as the mother started to think it might be best for the family to stay in Niigata, on Sept. 27 TEPCO requested the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) conduct a safety review as it hoped to restart the No. 6 and 7 reactors at TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture.

Some 5,000 evacuees are still living in Niigata, most of them believed to be mothers and children just like the Sugiura family. Takako can't help but wonder if TEPCO realizes that the company is causing turmoil to evacuees.

"I can't go back (to Fukushima) even though I want to," Hina wrote in a survey conducted by her current school in Niigata. Takako wonders where her two children will call "home" as their evacuation continues.