Japan Press Weekly

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2014 March 19 - 25 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Fukushima refugees in Tokyo want to continue living in public housing

A group of Fukushima people who escaped from the nuclear disaster to Tokyo on March 19 made representations to the metropolitan government, demanding continued use of temporary housing.

Since the March 11 disaster, disaster victims of Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi have taken shelter in Tokyo-owned public housing complexes and leased public housing units which the Tokyo Metropolitan Government provided as temporary residences.

Fukushima victims are at present allowed to live in those units until the end of March 2015.

The Tokyo government last month sent to the disaster victims a questionnaire about their choice of place to live. However, Tokyo-provided temporary housing was exempted from the options.

After the representations, the group held a press conference at the Tokyo government office building.

A 45-year-old man, who escaped from Fukushima’s Iwaki City with his 6- and 11-year-old sons, said, “I have changed my son’s schools three times. I don’t want to make my boys feel anxiety about their school life. The year-by-year extension of the deadline for living in public housing has caused anxieties in our efforts to restore our lives.”

A 31-year-old mother of three children, who took shelter from Fukushima City, said, “We feel difficulty in having our demands heard by the Tokyo government as we, disaster victims, are scattered throughout Tokyo.”

Currently, 2,570 Fukushima families are living in Tokyo-provided temporary housing units, according to the Tokyo government data.