Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2012 April 11 - 17 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Application for compensation from TEPCO obscure

Fukushima nuclear accident victims with disabilities have difficulty in applying for compensation from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) for damages caused by the nuclear accident.

A couple in their seventies living in Fukushima’s Iwaki City provides an example of such victims. 72-year-old Hashimoto Junko is blind and her husband Tetsuo, 76, has limited vision. They usually obtain information from printed materials with the help of a device which scans and reads out printed words and numbers.

An application form for compensation that the Hashimotos received from TEPCO had too many marks and figures for the device to be able to accurately scan and read out. Even if the couple succeeded in obtaining information on the papers through the scanning device, due to their visual disability, it would have been impossible for them to fill out the application for compensation.

Luckily, they were able to ask their son who lives close by to do the paper work for them. However, if they had no access to support, what would they do?

“We have to put private information, like our financial situation, in the application papers. So, I hesitated asking neighbors for help,” said Junko.

A social welfare corporation which runs facilities supporting mentally-disabled persons in Iwaki City and Naraha Town in Fukushima Prefecture is preparing to assist their facility users’ collective to file their claims to TEPCO for compensation for damages.

Toda Hiroki of a local visually-disabled person’s group said, “It’s necessary to establish a system to provide support for the disabled victims to claim compensation from the Fukushima nuclear power plant operator.”