Fukushima evacuees upset over gov't plan for set compensation amounts
Residents evacuated from their nuclear disaster-hit hometowns in Fukushima Prefecture have expressed discontent over the government's plan to compensate them in set amounts.
"I can't accept the uniform compensations," said Ichiro Shiga, 64, a farmer from the Fukushima Prefecture town of Futaba, which hosts the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, after a government panel for screening nuclear disaster reparation disputes presented a compensation policy on March 16.
Shiga, whose wife and grandchild went missing following the March 11, 2011 tsunami, was forced to leave Futaba due to the nuclear disaster without being able to search for his loved ones. He is currently evacuated in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture.
"I'm given up on the idea of returning to my hometown, as a temporary storage facility (for contaminated soil and waste) is likely to be built there," he said. "I can't easily accept the government's compensation policy, which is to make up for our ancestral assets to be lost forever at the same price as before the quake disaster. Our psychological pain would not be compensated for by uniform reparation of 100,000 yen a month (as long as evacuation continues)."
Eiichi Tsukamoto, 70, who is evacuated from the town of Okuma to Aizuwakamatsu, criticized the government's compensation policy, saying that it does not reflect residents' opinions. Okuma is home to the No. 1 through No. 4 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and most of the town is expected to be designated as a "difficult to return" zone.
"I'm afraid the lump-sum compensation payments (for those who can not return for the immediate future) would bring down the curtain on the issue. The government is making unilateral decisions without giving us any information. I want the government to incorporate the voices of evacuated residents more in its policy," he said.
Takuro Ajima, 71, a municipal assembly member evacuated from the town of Naraha, whose radiation doses are relatively low compared to other areas, also advocated case-by-case compensation schemes.
"Because houses have been left unattended for a year since the March 11 earthquake, which damaged their roofs and walls, there are many houses in which floors have decayed or mushrooms have popped up on tatami mats. Even if residents can return to their homes after decontamination, it will cost them several million yen in repair expenses per house. I want the government to take individual and door-to-door responses," he said.
Tsutae Ikeda, 66, who is evacuated from the town of Namie to Yamagata Prefecture, showed reluctance to return to his home, which is located nine kilometers from the crippled nuclear plant, saying, "Even if my hometown is designated as a restricted dwelling zone, I'm not going to return there. There's no point in living with my wife in a place where our child can't bring our grandchild to."
Seiichi Funaba, 51, who evacuated from Namie to Kanagawa Prefecture, had to leave both his restaurant in Futaba, five kilometers away from the stricken nuclear plant, and his home seven kilometers away from the facility.
"I want the government to discuss what they are going to do with land and houses. If I could find out what the circumstances will be in three or five years from now, I can make a decision on whether to live here (in Kanagawa Prefecture) forever or to return to my hometown, but I can't do that at the moment," he said.
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) March 17, 2012
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