Top > JDR > Issues Facing Voluntary Evacuees from the Fukushima Daiichi Nu ...

single-dr.php

JDR Vol.10 No.sp pp. 755-769
(2015)
doi: 10.20965/jdr.2015.p0755

Paper:

Views over last 60 days: 682

Issues Facing Voluntary Evacuees from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Based on the Collection and Analysis of Cases of Voluntary Evacuation

Kota Tomoyasu*, Reo Kimura*, Hitomi Mashima**, and Ikuno Kazama**

*Graduate School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Hyogo, Japan

**NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), Tokyo, Japan

Received:
March 30, 2015
Accepted:
July 14, 2015
Published:
September 1, 2015
Creative Commons License
Keywords:
Great East Japan Earthquake, life reconstruction process, seven elements of life reconstruction, life as evacuee, anxiety about radiation exposure
Abstract
Although over three years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, it is estimated that there remain approximately 135,000 evacuees from the nuclear power plant accident, 81,000 of whom had been living in areas under evacuation orders and 54,000 of whom had been living outside these areas (i.e., voluntary evacuees). However, the lived experience of such voluntary evacuees has been uncertain, as it is not possible to identify them. Consequently, it has not been possible to clarify the anxieties they harbor as they continue their extended existence as evacuees or to determine the issues they face in reconstructing their lives, making it difficult to extend suitable assistance measures. In this study, we worked with NHK to conduct a survey of voluntary evacuees. A list of interviewees compiled by NHK reporters was used to survey voluntary evacuees, who are difficult to identify. By analyzing the collected cases, we examined issues faced by “voluntary evacuees.” The results showed that the majority of the voluntary evacuees in this survey were mothers who had evacuated with their young children (but without their spouses) and who felt that they had had to evacuate due to anxieties about the effects of radiation exposure on their children’s growth. They tended to feel that it was difficult to return to their former areas of residence and that they had no choice except to continue living as evacuees. Furthermore, there were cases in which couples that had previously been living together had separated for reasons of work or place of occupation and had been forced into situations where they were obliged to economically support two households, with adverse effects on their budgets, minds, and bodies. In addition, the nuclear power plant accident made it difficult for them to decide where to base themselves in the future; in some cases, evacuees returned to their pre-disaster areas of residence only to evacuate again. Against the designation “voluntary,” the voluntary evacuees in this survey lived under circumstances in which they felt that they had had no choice but to evacuate; in enduring the difficulties of evacuation, they did not feel they had acted according to their voluntary will. This points to the need to implement effective assistance.
Cite this article as:
K. Tomoyasu, R. Kimura, H. Mashima, and I. Kazama, “Issues Facing Voluntary Evacuees from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Based on the Collection and Analysis of Cases of Voluntary Evacuation,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.10 No.sp, pp. 755-769, 2015.
Data files:
References
  1. [1] Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated, Report of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Report of Tokyo Electric Power Company, 2011.
  2. [2] International Atomic Energy Agency, INES The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale User’s Manual 2008 Edition, IAEA-INES-2009, 2009.
  3. [3] Ministry of the Environment, Progress of Decontamination of Radioactive Materials in Fukushima, Ministry of the Environment Homepage, http://josen.env.go.jp/zone/details/fukushima _progress.html [accessed Feb. 28, 2015]
  4. [4] Reconstruction Agency, Number of Evacuees (February 12, 2015), Report of Reconstruction Agency, 2015a.
  5. [5] NHK Sogo, NHK Special: A Selection of 130,000 Evacuees – Three Years after the Nuclear Plant Accident, 2014.
  6. [6] Reconstruction Agency, Document of Information Support for Voluntary Evacuees Outside the Prefecture, Report of Reconstruction Agency, 2014b.
  7. [7] H. Tamura, Supporting for Evacuees outside Prefecture cause of Nuclear Disaster, “Reconstruction,” Vol.4, No.2, pp. 98-106, 2013.
  8. [8] R. Kimura, H. Hayashi, K. Tamura, S. Tatsuki, T. Noda, K. Yamori, A. Kuromiya, and Y. Urata, “Developing Victims’ Life Reconstruction Indicators by Social Survey – Ten Years Monitoring in the Great Hanshin-Awaji(Kobe) Earthquake Disaster –,” Journal of Social Safety Science, No,8, pp. 415-424, 2006.
  9. [9] I. Kitahara, R. Matsuura, and R. Kimura, “Encyclopedia of Japan History Disaster,” Yoshikawa Koubunkan, Edition, pp. 72-77, 2012.
  10. [10] K. Tamura, S. Tatsuiki, and H. Hayashi, “The External Validity of Life Recovery Tasks and their Structure among the Disaster Victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake,” Journal of Social Safety Science, No.2, pp. 25-32, 2000.
  11. [11] M. Mita, M. Oosawa, T. Yoshimi, and S. Washida, “Encyclopedia of Contemporary Sociology,” Koubundou, p. 725, 2012.
  12. [12] R. Kimura, Y. Yajima, Y. Matsui, and R. Suzuki, “Conditions of the Disaster Victims of Two-Year after the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake – How do the Disaster Victims Feel in the Process of Life Reconstruction,” Journal of Japan Society for Disaster Information Studies, No.12, pp. 114-123, 2014a.
  13. [13] R. Kimura, K. Tomoyasu, Y. Yajima, H. Mashima. K. Furukawa, Y. Toda, K. Watanabe, and T. Kawahaea, “Reconstruction Progress Situation of the Third Year from the Great East Japan Earthquake by Victims’ Questionnaire Survey – Focusing on Sense of Stagnation in Disaster Reconstruction and Ambivalence in Housing Reconstruction –,” Journal of Social Safety Science, No.24, pp. 233-243, 2014b.
  14. [14] A. Matsumura (Ed.), “Daijirin Third Edition,” Sanseido, p. 1921, 2006.
  15. [15] Reconstruction Agency, “Highway Tolls Free of Charge for Evacuation of Mother and Child Separated from Spouse Cause of Nuclear Accident,” Document of Reconstruction Agency, 2013.
  16. [16] Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, “Publish Reconciliation Illustration by Dispute Reconciliation Center for Nuclear Damage Compensation,” Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Homepage, http:// www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/genshi_baisho/jiko_baisho/detail/1335308. htm [accessed June 26, 2015]
  17. [17] R. Kimura, “Recovery and Reconstruction Calendar,” Journal of Disaster Research, Vol.2, No.6, pp. 465-474, 2007.
  18. [18] Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated, “Additional Compensation Related Voluntary Evacuation,” Tokyo Electric Power Company Homepage, 2014, http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/ press/2012/1223477_1834.html [accessed Feb. 28, 2015]
  19. [19] Fukushima Prefecture, “Housing Support for Residents Intend to Return to Fukushima,” Fukushima Prefecture Homepage, http://www.pref.fukushima.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/73444.pdf [accessed June 27, 2015]

Creative Commons License  This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.

*This site is desgined based on HTML5 and CSS3 for modern browsers, e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera.

Last updated on Oct. 01, 2024