Rotary International 2530district community service committee
The Earthquake, NuclearAccident, and the Women of Fukushima
Return to Menu| I'd Like to Live Every Day in Peace Ichiko Abe (Fukushima City) | |
I am a farmer. I make my living tending the rice fields which have been handed down through the generations. We are the ninth generation. An unexpected event happened quite suddenly, didn't it? Our house was partially destroyed in the huge earthquake. Not only that, even 60km away, great amounts of radioactive debris from the ensuing hydrogen explosions at the TEPCO Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant spread all over Fukushima City, where I live. We were brainwashed by the myth of the safety of nuclear power plants, and never could have imagined the explosion. Since then, we have had a lot of serious problems. When the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster happened, I was worried whether or not I could give my breast milk to my 4 month old daughter. That baby has since become a mother, with her own 6 month old daughter. My daughter's face is tense. The uneasy feelings of a mother with a small child are like a monster that lies heavily on her mind and body. What is this baby's future? My anxiety increases. I have been worrying about whether I can grow produce in my fields, which were exposed to radiation. If I grow rice, pears, or vegetables as usual, and radiation levels are detected in my products, we won't be able to eat them. If we leave the produce in the fields as they are, the fields may be re-contaminated. I couldn't decide what to do, and decided to stop thinking about it for the time being. The thing I worry about the most is not knowing how much radioactivity poured into my fields. In an attempt at "visual control", I purchased a survey meter to check the radiation levels of my personal surroundings, so I could see with my own eyes. Information is essential to life. My pears registered 28 Becquerel’s of radioactive cesium per 1kg. At that time, the government standard for food in Japan was 500 Becquerel’s per 1kg, so it was up to us to decide whether to eat the produce or not. In order to protect the lives of my family, and in order to protect the lives of the people who buy and consume our produce, we continue to present the precisely measured values. 2012. Radioactive cesium had stuck to the surface of the pear trees, so I scraped the bark from 400 of them. 2013. 1 stripped off 5cm of surface soil in the fields, and buried it in a bag at the corner of our land. It may or may not work, but as of 2014, the radioactive cesium value for our pears was between 1 and 2 Becquerel's per 1kg. It seems as though the revival of Fukushima's agriculture may be possible. In April of 1990, in order to take over my husband's farm, we moved with our four kids from Osaka to Fukushima. I don't know why, but agriculture seemed to be something interesting. I did not have any particular interest in Fukushima. By chance, I was only vaguely aware that Fukushima even existed, and by chance, Fukushima has changed drastically. Over these past four years, I have come to realize that I like this place, and that I want to live an agricultural life. We don't need nuclear plants for the future! It already took me four years to realize that a second Fukushima wasn't necessary. |