Japan Press Weekly

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2012 July 11 - 17 [GREAT EAST JAPAN DISASTER]

Clock remains stopped since 3.11

Japanese Communist Party representative Kasai Akira on July 12 at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting demanded that the government proceed with a set of measures on decontamination, compensation, and livelihood support for the 3.11 disaster victims.

He said, “The clock has stopped for 16 months in the affected areas,” pointing out that the Fukushima aftermath is still continuing or even worsening.

For example, in the Odaka district of Minamisoma City, the off-limits order has already been lifted but tsunami-washed cars and boats are still scattered about; damaged homes remain untouched; the water supply is still cut off; and one person ended up killing himself in despair after returning to what was left of his home. Fukushima plans to decontaminate 88,000 houses out of a total of 607,000 houses in the prefecture, but the number of houses that has been decontaminated remains at only 2,000 so far.

Kasai criticized TEPCO for delaying compensation settlement and the government for trying to disrupt communities by restricting eligibility to receive compensation.

Regarding future energy policy, the government is holding 11 town meetings. Although these meetings are supposed to discuss how to deal with nuclear power in the future, they only last 1.5 hours each without offering a Q-and-A session, and only 9 townspeople can be allowed to speak at these meetings.

Kasai argued that if the government is ready to listen to the general public, it “should hold more town meetings at more locations throughout Japan and should allow more speakers to have more time to express opinions at each meeting.”