{"id":3855,"date":"2017-06-02T09:46:13","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T00:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cnic.jp\/english\/?p=3855"},"modified":"2017-06-02T14:27:35","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T05:27:35","slug":"evacuation-orders-lifted-for-iitate-kawamata-namie-tomioka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/?p=3855","title":{"rendered":"Evacuation Orders Lifted  for Iitate, Kawamata, Namie, Tomioka"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The Japanese government has lifted evacuation orders for zones it had designated as \u201careas to which evacuation orders are ready to be lifted\u201d and \u201careas in which residents are not permitted to live\u201d as a result of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The orders were lifted in Iitate, Namie and the Yamakiya district of Kawamata on March 31 and in Tomioka on April 1. Evacuation orders for \u201careas where it is expected that residents will face difficulties in returning for a long time\u201d (or, more briefly, \u201cdifficult-to-return zones\u201d) remain in place. The evacuation orders originally affected a total of 12 municipalities, but had been lifted for six of those as of last year. The latest rescission of orders has brought the ratio of refugees allowed to return to their homes to about 70%, with the area still under evacuation orders reduced to about 30% of its original size. TEPCO intends to cut off compensation to these refugees, with a target date of March 2018, roughly a year after the evacuation orders were lifted. Additionally, the provision of free housing to \u201cvoluntary evacuees,\u201d who evacuated from areas not under evacuation orders, was discontinued at the end of March 2017.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>Lifting of Orders Affects 32,000 People<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>The number of people forced to abandon their homes due to the Fukushima nuclear accident reached a peak of 164,865 people in May 2012, when they had no choice but to evacuate. Now, even six years later, 79,446 evacuees (as of February 2017) continue to lead difficult lives as refugees.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 In the six municipalities for which the evacuation orders were lifted last year, the repatriation of residents has not proceeded well. Repatriation ratios compared to the pre-disaster population have been about 50 to 60% for Hirono and Tamura, about 20% for Kawauchi, and not even 10% for Naraha, Katsurao and the Odaka district of Minamisoma, where radiation doses were high (see Table 1).<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><iframe src=\"\/\/docs.google.com\/viewer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcnic.jp%2Fenglish%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F06%2FReturnee-data.pdf&hl=en_US&embedded=true\" class=\"gde-frame\" style=\"width:100%; height:500px; border: none;\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<p class=\"gde-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Returnee-data.pdf\" class=\"gde-link\">Download (PDF, 90KB)<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>The number of evacuees affected by the current lifting of evacuation orders for the four municipalities is 32,169. The ratio of positive responses to a residents\u2019 opinion survey conducted by the Reconstruction Agency from last year to this year saying they would like to be repatriated was rather low, with about 30 to 40% for Iitate and Kawamata, and less than 20% for Namie and Tomioka. During the long course of their evacuation, spanning six years, many of the residents had already built foundations for their lives in the places to which they had evacuated.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>House and Building Demolition Proceeding (Namie)<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>A total of 15,356 evacuees (as of the end of 2016) are affected by the rescission of evacuation orders for Namie, amounting to about 80% of the town\u2019s residents. Results of an opinion survey published by the Reconstruction Agency in November showed 17.5% of the residents saying they wanted to return to Namie. Most replied that they did not want to return or that they could not return yet.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 A temporary shopping center named \u201cMachi Nami Marushe\u201d has been newly opened next to the main Namie Town Office building, where the evacuation orders have been lifted. The rail service on the Joban Line to JR Namie Station was restored when the orders were lifted. In the area around Namie Station and the shopping center in front of it, houses and buildings are being demolished and decontamination and road repair work are proceeding at a high pitch.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 Meanwhile, Namie\u2019s residents say their houses have been made uninhabitable by damage from various wild animals, including boars, raccoon dogs, palm civets, raccoons, martens and monkeys. Many houses have been ruined, necessitating their demolition.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>\u2018Forward Base\u2019 for Reactor Decommissioning (Tomioka)<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>A total of 9,601 evacuees (as of January 1, 2017) are affected by the rescission of evacuation orders for Tomioka, about 70% of the town\u2019s residents. Results of a residents\u2019 opinion survey show no more than 16% of them wishing to return to the town.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 Last November, a commercial zone called \u201cSakura Mall Tomioka\u201d was established along National Route 6. A supermarket and drug store opened for business there at the end of March. Nearby is the \u201cEnergy Hall\u201d\u2014TEPCO\u2019s nuclear power PR facilities. Right next door to that, housing is being built for reconstruction workers, consisting of 50 detached houses and 140 apartment complex units. There are plans to relocate JR Tomioka Station to a position near these.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 The town will play a role as a \u201cforward base for reactor decommissioning.\u201d The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is promoting the construction of an international research center for the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID), scheduled for completion by the end of March. It will carry out research on human resource development and methods for the disposal of radioactive wastes. These facilities are not meant for returning residents. Instead, they are being promoted as part of plans for a new \u201cworkers\u2019 town\u201d and will have decontamination and decommissioning workers move in as new residents along with decommissioning researchers.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 On the other hand, the \u201cdifficult-to-return zones\u201d of about 8 km2, including the Yonomori district, famous for its cherry tree tunnel that used to be lit up at night, will remain under evacuation orders. At a residents\u2019 briefing, people expressed worries about matters like having to see the barricades to those zones on a daily basis.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>Non-repatriating Residents Cut Off (Iitate)<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>The village of Iitate, located about 40 km northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, is making a massive decontamination effort across its entire area, including agricultural fields, to prepare for repatriation of its residents. About 2.35 million large flexible container bags into which contaminated waste is stuffed are stacked in temporary storage areas, accounting for about 30% of the total 7.53 million bags overall in the special decontamination area (for decontamination directly implemented by the national government). Prior to rescission of the evacuation orders, Iitate Mayor Norio Kanno made the controversial remark, \u201cWe will honor support from residents who repatriate to the village.\u201d This brought an angry response from the residents, declaring that they were adamantly opposed to an attitude of treating those not returning as non-residents. The village\u2019s position on repatriation is that it should be up to the judgement of the villagers themselves.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>Three Requirements for Lifting Evacuation Orders<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>On December 26, 2011, Japan\u2019s government determined three conditions needed to be fulfilled before evacuation orders could be lifted. These were (1) certainty that the accumulative annual dose at the estimated air dose rate would be 20 mSv or less, (2) that infrastructure and everyday services had been restored and decontamination work had proceeded sufficiently, especially in environments where children would be active, and (3) that there had been sufficient consultation with the prefecture, municipalities and residents. In May 2015, the government decided on a target of March 2017 for lifting the evacuation orders for all but the \u201cdifficult-to-return zones.\u201d They proceeded with the decontamination work and provision of infrastructure for the residents\u2019 return, but gaining consent was a hopeless cause.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>Requirement 1: Coerced Exposure<\/strong> The annual 20 mSv standard the government established is puzzling. The ICRP\u2019s recommendations and laws such as Japan\u2019s Nuclear Reactor Regulation Law stipulate a public radiation exposure limit of 1 mSv a year. The government is repatriating the residents even at radiation doses exceeding this, and of most concern is how this will affect their health. The residents argue, \u201cWe cannot return to places with such a high risk of exposure.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 Trial calculations of the radiation doses received by individuals staying in Namie and Tomioka to conduct preparatory work were published prior to the rescission of evacuation orders for those towns, showing annual doses of 1.54 mSv for Namie and 1.52 mSv for Tomioka. These are below the government\u2019s standard of 20 mSv a year (3.8 \u03bcSv per hour)* for lifting evacuation orders, but both exceed the annual limit for public exposure. They are not conditions ensuring \u201csafety and security\u201d as the government says.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 At the residents\u2019 briefings, the government explained that its basis for lifting the orders was that decontamination had been completed. However, even if the annual radiation dose has not fallen below 1mSv (the government\u2019s decontamination standard, equivalent to an hourly dose of 0.23 \u03bcSv) after decontamination, they will press ahead with lifting the evacuation orders anyway. This drew strong reactions from the residents who said, \u201cAre you making us return just because of the decontamination?\u201d and \u201cAre you forcing us to be exposed?\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>Requirement 2: Shopping Close By<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>Prior to the earthquake and tsunami disaster, the Odaka district of Minamisoma, where the evacuation orders were lifted last July, had six supermarkets, two home centers, six fish shops and three drugstores. All of those, however, were lost in the disaster. At last, after the evacuation orders were lifted, two convenience stores opened, but they are far from the residential area near JR Odaka Station, and cannot be reached on foot. A clinic reopened, but since there is no pharmacy, there is no way for patients to buy prescribed medicines. Repatriated residents have to travel for about 20 minutes by car to the adjacent Haramachi district about 10 kilometers away to supplement their shopping and other necessities. Residents without cars, such as the elderly, have difficulty living there. They say, \u201cNobody wants to reopen the stores because it is obvious that they\u2019ll run at a loss.\u201d A vicious cycle continues, with stores unable to open because the residents who would be their customers are not returning.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>Requirement 3: Spurn Residents\u2019 Wishes<\/strong> Almost none of the residents attending the residents\u2019 briefings have been in favor of lifting the evacuation orders. Nine or more out of 10 have expressed opposition. They are always given the same canned explanation, with the national and municipal governments brazenly and unilaterally insisting on lifting the orders.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u201cIt is too soon to lift the evacuation orders,\u201d complained one resident at Namie\u2019s residents\u2019 briefing on February 7. The 74-year-old woman living as an evacuee in Tokyo had been getting by on 100,000 yen a month in pension payments and compensation for mental anguish and was living in a single-bedroom public apartment (UR Housing) in Tokyo that qualifies as post-disaster public-funded rental accommodation. Her compensation will be cut off, and if she chooses to continue living in the housing where she currently resides, the rent is expected to exceed 100,000 yen. She considers how many years she could continue paying and doesn\u2019t know what she would do if she became unable to pay. Such constant thoughts increase her anxiety. The minute the evacuation orders are lifted, she too will be rendered a \u201cvoluntary evacuee.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 The woman said, \u201cEven if they tell me to go back to Namie because it is safe, I will not return.\u201d They have finished decontaminating her house, but high levels of radiation remain, measuring 0.4 \u03bcSv per hour in her garden and 0.6 \u03bcSv per hour in her living room. With regard to this, Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba keeps repeating the same response that \u201cthe environment is in good order for people to come back and live in our town.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 A multitude of residents expressed a litany of angry opinions, such as, \u201cIf the government says it is safe, they ought to send some of their officials to live here first,\u201d \u201cSay we come back, but if we are going to live next to where dangerous decommissioning work is going on, are they still going to cut off our compensation?\u201d and \u201cThe government and town officials say they are striving for the safety and security of the residents, but we can\u2019t trust them at all.\u201d Following this briefing, though, on February 27, the town of Namie accepted the national government\u2019s policy of lifting the evacuation orders, formally deciding on the end of March as the date for rescission. They pooh-poohed the views of many of the town\u2019s residents opposed to lifting of the orders.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><strong>Conclusion<\/strong> In a Cabinet Decision on December 20, 2016, the Japanese government adopted a \u201cPolicy for Accelerating Fukushima\u2019s Reconstruction.\u201d This policy promotes the preparation of \u201creconstruction bases\u201d in parts of the \u201cdifficult-to-return zones\u201d and the use of government funds for decontamination toward a target of lifting the evacuation orders for these areas in five years and urging repatriation. \u201cDifficult-to-return zones\u201d span the seven municipalities of Futaba, Okuma, Tomioka, Namie, Iitate, Katsurao and Minamisoma. By area, they account for 62% of Okuma and 96% of Futaba. The affected population numbers about 24,000 people.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 The government\u2019s repatriation policy, however, is resulting in bankruptcies. Rather than repatriation, they should be promoting a \u201cpolicy of evacuation\u201d in consideration of current conditions. Policies should be immediately implemented to provide economic, social and health support to the evacuees, enabling them to live healthy, civilized lives, regardless of whether they choose to repatriate or continue their evacuation.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>Ryohei Kataoka, CNIC<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">* This calculation is based on a government approved formula which assumes that people will be exposed to 3.8 \u03bcSv per hour only for 8 hours per day when they are outside the house. It is assumed that they will be indoors for 16 hours per day and the screening effect will reduce the exposure rate to 1.52 \u03bcSv per hour. On a yearly basis, this calculates to slightly less than 20 mSv per year.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Japanese government has lifted evacuation orders for zones it had designated as \u201careas to which evacuation orders are ready to be lifted\u201d and \u201careas in which residents are not permitted to live\u201d as&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fukushima-daiichi-evacuees"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3855"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3889,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855\/revisions\/3889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}