January 9, 2012

Residents of eight municipalities near the Fukushima nuclear power plant are facing hardships, including breakup of families and job losses.

This was shown in the results of Fukushima University’s disaster reconstruction research institute survey released at a forum held in Hyogo Prefecture on January 8.

After the Fukushima accident, the nearby areas encompassing the eight municipalities of Hirono, Naraha, Tomioka, Okuma, Futaba, and Namie towns and Kawauchi and Kuzuo villages have been designated as either no-entry zones or would-be evacuation zones.

The institute, in cooperation with the eight local governments, sent questionnaires to all 28,184 households in the municipalities and received responses from 13,576 households.

The majority of residents are taking shelter within Fukushima, accounting for 69.2% of all the residents of the eight towns and villages, with 21.9% of residents having been evacuated to the Kanto region.

About 98% of respondents said that they experienced separation of family members during evacuation, and 32.4% of full-time employees and 76.4% part-timers said they lost their jobs due to the 3.11 disaster and the nuclear accident.

In regard to anxieties about the future, 57.8% said they feel uncertain about when they will be able to go back to their homes. 49.3% said they worry about obtaining future homes or just finding places to where they can move. 47.4% fear radiation contamination and 30.5% said that they have no prospects of getting money to meet their daily expenses.

Fukushima University Associate Professor Tanba Fuminori said, “Evacuees are increasingly isolated from society. It is necessary to improve their situations at places where they have been evacuated and establish a system to provide support.”