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Rotary International 2530district community service committee

   Japnese

The Earthquake, NuclearAccident, and the Women of Fukushima

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The Destruction of Normal Life      Yoko Wakamatsu (Minamisoma City)

 July 22nd, 2011 The Destruction of Normal Life In the four days following the 12th, the day after the March 1 lth earthquake and tsunami, the citizens of Minamisoma received new of the explosion at the four reactors towers of the nuclear power plant. On the 11th, at 2:46pm, a rumbling sound began suddenly; it was a seismic level 6 earthquake.

In a state of stupor, I crawled to the ground floor. During my escape there are three more aftershocks. After they settle, I return upstairs to my home.

It is said that the huge tsunami hit at 3:42, but with the phone lines cut off, and the limited cellphone reception, we had only the TV news of the tsunami in Iwate Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture. There was no way to know that a tsunami, a black wall 16 meters in height, would come to smash into the coast of Minamisoma.

As soon as the residents were finally able to escape from the tsunami to the designated city, they began voluntary evacuation due to the possibility of a radiation leak. Both the government and the prefecture espoused "refuge indoors"; however, the mayor of Minamisoma accepted a call for voluntary evacuation. Lines of transportation were halted, radiation was leaking, information was difficult to obtain, and public facilities were closed. The disaster relief supplies did not arrive, so distribution was suspended.

No guarantee of food, clothing, or shelter, and being unable to seek medical help regarding illness and injury was an unbearable living situation to be exposed to. It was feared that the nuclear power plant would suffer a core meltdown, but no decisive information was transmitted.

I spent many uneasy days as the government and Tokyo Electricity failed to convey the radiation's strength, which direction it had spread, or how far.

In the early morning of the 15th, I was forced to evacuate 70km away from the site of the nuclear power plant to the far away Fukushima City, which is ironic because Fukushima City's radiation exposure is several times higher than Minamisoma.

By the end of March, a city with a population of 70,000 has been reduced to a little less than 10,000. For the citizens who wander from place to place looking for refuge, who have lost family members, who have suffered the break-up of a family, or who are minorities, evacuation must be difficult beyond words. During evacuation, many sick or elderly people who had been living in nursing facilities died.

City administrations sent their fire departments, police departments, and self-defense forces from all over the country; everyone is thankful for the tremendous work of the local facilities and hospital personnel.

June 18th, 2012 A people Abandoned

The constitutional right to a safe and healthy life has been violated for the citizens of Fukushima. Because of the Cesium 134 and 137 radiation leaks, the city has been divided into 5 sections: "hazard area", "preplanned evacuation zone", "emergency evacuation preparations zone", "recommended evacuation zone", and the "designated zone outside the affected area".

The population has become 38,000; however, in addition to the mutual cooperation and trust among the citizens, an infection of dissatisfaction, jealousy, and distrust of the government is spreading.

I also think that the plan to prioritize the removal of radioactively contaminated waste has not been carried out as expected. In order to live here, must we be ready to live as "forsaken people"?

October 27th, 2013 The Inhabitants Ask for Revival

The world is watching closely, to see what has become of Fukushima since the nuclear accident. It is expected that the decommissioning of the plant could take many decades. Elementary school and junior high school students are at 50% of what they used to be, and new babies are at 30%.

Even now over 15,000 people are living as evacuees in areas both inside and outside of the prefecture. Young couples with children are pursuing a life in the places they took refuge. Without improvement to decontamination, infrastructural development, social security, and the job market, I do not expect life to return here.

Even still, the citizens have had three years since they lost their humanity. They have begun to seek recovery and rebirth.