Japan to recover from nuke disaster...] 2769 ]

Editorial: Gov't must listen to communities striving to recover from nuke disaster

In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 20, 2012, a worker prepares bags of radiation contaminated soil for shipment to a dumping ground, at a school sports field in Hirono, outside Japan's nuclear exclusion zone. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

Mainichi Japan 6-3-12-

Restoration work has moved into high gear in municipalities where most of the residents were forced to evacuate because of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The Hirono Municipal Government, which had temporarily moved its functions to two nearby municipalities, resumed business at its own town hall on March 1. The Kawauchi Municipal Government, which became the first crisis-hit local body to declare that it would return all the residents to their homes, also returned to its village office and reopened local schools.

-

In February, the whole Kawauchi Village Hall, which was badly damaged by the March 11, 2011 earthquake, was hidden beneath green tarp. Now, work to restore the structure is under way. These moves have demonstrated that Fukushima Prefecture has been hit by not only the nuclear disaster.

"We were desperate to respond to the disasters while supporting village residents who were evacuated. The memory of some events has faded," says Kawauchi Mayor Yuko Endo, describing the past turbulent year. "I'm now preoccupied with considering what to do from here on out."

-

All of the some 3,000 residents of Kawauchi were evacuated after the entire village was designated as an emergency evacuation preparation zone following the outbreak of the nuclear crisis. The designation was lifted in September last year, but only about 200 residents have returned home so far, while most of the others are still refugees.

-

Mayor Endo declared on Jan. 31 that he would return all the residents to their homes. However, he respects the choice of individual residents whether to come back or not. "Those who can return should come home, and those who are still worried can wait to see how the situation develops," he says.

A municipal government survey conducted on all the residents showed that about 60 percent either want to stay away from the village for the time being or are unsure of what to do, suggesting that a majority are feeling uneasy about the future.

A radiation monitor indicates 131.00 mSv per hour near the Unit 3 and 4 reactor buildings at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Kimimasa Mayama, Pool)
-

The central government will review the current no-go and planned evacuation zone designations as early as April, and improve the living environment in areas where the annual radiation dose is below 20 millisieverts so that residents can return home.

Many affected municipalities will certainly face various challenges, such as decontamination, ensuring the health of residents including children, as well as the safety of their food, securing jobs and the maintenance of local communities.

-

In particular, difficulties must be overcome to effectively decontaminate areas tainted with radioactive substances leaking from the nuclear station. The government is currently carrying out model projects, but is still searching for truly effective decontamination methods.

A road map released by the government sets the deadline for decontaminating areas with annual radiation levels less than 50 millisieverts at March 2014. However, it stops short of setting a numerical target for lowering radiation levels.

Municipalities affected by the nuclear disaster have expressed deep dissatisfaction with the costs of decontaminating farmland and forests.

-

To ensure food safety and dispel concerns about health effects, the Kawauchi Municipal Government is set to install 11 radiation counters for food at schools and community halls to allow residents to test their food free of charge. The village has examined all residents aged up to 18 for internal radiation exposure, and is poised to continue monitoring their conditions. It has also begun to track the conditions of residents' thyroids.

These measures have set an example of steps affected municipalities hit by the nuclear crisis should take to ensure the health of residents.

Mayor Endo, who has been playing a leading role in working out and implementing these measures, criticizes the national government for its slow response to the disaster.

-

"It took too long for the government to extend assistance and provided information to affected residents," he says, and we urge the government to listen to the opinions of local communities hit by the disasters, and promptly announce specific policy measures.

In this July 24, 2011 photo, an abandoned bicycle rests on a road partially blocked by ships that washed ashore in the town of Namie, inside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, in northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
-

At the same time, the government must build temporary storage facilities for soil contaminated with radioactive substances while consulting with the local communities that will be asked to host such facilities.

The government is planning to build such a storage facility in the Futaba district of Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima No. 1 plant is located. However, a meeting scheduled by the government to exchange opinions on the matter with the mayors of the district's eight municipalities was abruptly cancelled.

Critics have said that local communities' deep distrust of the national government lay behind the cancellation. The government must take such criticism seriously.