Japan Press Weekly

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2012 August 22 - 28 [GREAT EAST JAPAN DISASTER]

More than 1,500 deaths confirmed as related to 3.11 disaster

As of March this year, the government’s Reconstruction Agency confirmed 1,632 people’s deaths in 10 prefectures as caused by hardships related to the 2011 Great East Japan Disaster. Of them, 97% were in the disaster-hit prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate.

This was found in the Agency’s research it has recently released.

Among 1,263 of the 1,632 people in the three prefectures, 638 people, the largest number in multiple choice items, died from the physical and mental fatigue they suffered at evacuation shelters.

The research also discovered that 34 people died due to the emotional stress caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident.

In Fukushima Prefecture, 380 people died due to the physical and mental fatigue they had experienced being transferred to different shelters. In the prefecture, many had to move from one shelter to another several times because of the nuclear crisis.

Due to the closure of hospitals or to transportation difficulties, 390 people could not obtain medical treatment and died. 50% of the deaths took place within 1 month and 80% within 3 months after the 3.11 disaster.

The Reconstruction Agency has given the confirmation of the disaster-related death to only those who received condolence compensation for the 3.11 disaster. More people are expected to have died in the same situation.

The Agency stresses the need to revise related laws in order to make sure that evacuation shelters can secure enough food, deal with the heat and the cold, and maintain adequate health care programs for evacuees.