Rotary International 2530district community service committee
The Earthquake, NuclearAccident, and the Women of Fukushima
Return to Menu| The Future of Fukushima ~ Hope for a Swift Revival, and the Return of the People's Smiles and Daily Life ~ Harumi Yoshida (Fukushima City) |
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Four years have passed since that day. Those of us in Fukushima spend each day as though nothing happened Fukushima's nature is still beautiful, and its vegetables and fruits are still delicious and abundant. In the morning, I get vegetables from the field, which I cook and eat. Our life has not changed at all. But there is one thing that has changed. Before we eat the food from our fields, we check the level of radiation exposure. When we give it to others, we add the words, "The radiation dose is safe". Though our shop is located in a hot spring area, there are few people in the streets, and it is quiet. But at that time, more than a thousand people were evacuated from this city. Our store, a pharmacy, was overflowing with people looking to buy medicine, and the convention hall nearby was full of people looking to sit and rest. Everybody thought that we could go home soon, so they endured many inconveniences. Everyone had gone through the same difficult and painful burdens together; they were filled with energy, a kind of excitement. On the day we could return, some of them even had enough energy to enjoy a walk. In June, there is a school in session which kept its windows closed even in the hot weather, because they are worried about radioactivity. Almost all PE classes were indoors. During summer break, each school strips the surface soil from the ground, digs a large hole in the corner of the school's land, fills it with the contaminated soil, and covered it with plastic sheets; this is called "decontamination". In the two to three years since the disaster, each house performs the same procedure as the schools. If there is no space to bury the soil at their house, people put the contaminated soil in black plastic bag in the corner of their gardens. We rinse our roofs and walls with water, and that water flows into the sewers. We say we have decontaminated, but in fact, the problem has only been moved to a new place, hasn't it? Even though it has been 4 years, if there was a heavy rain, or a strong wind... In autumn of the second year since the disaster, elementary school teachers said they worry about the children hiking long distances. For the school excursion, they decided to take a train instead of go for a walk. The number of children with obesity is increasing. In those early days, we did not know that radioactivity had been blown here to Fukushima City, which is located 60 kilometers away from the plant. People stood in line with their children to get water from a water wagon. The young gas station attendants controlling the lines were drenched by the rain. Those days, the levels were sometimes more than 20 micro Sieverts per hour. My town which overflowed with evacuees now overflows with decontamination workers from all over Japan. But the increasing population is not solely a good thing. There are still a lot of problems which are not immediately noticeable such as thyroid cancer, children's exercise, immune systems, and physical strength. We must deal with these problem slowly and carefully. Since that day, Fukushima has become "FUKUSHIMA ". The "Fukushima" which is known to the world must be a Fukushima which does its best. |