Shingo Hashitani / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
FUKUSHIMA--"Why can't I evacuate with my two daughters?"
Akiko Sato, 24, a resident of Iitatemura in Fukushima Prefecture, was complaining to a community administrative assistant who had come to her house to explain the village's subsidy system for evacuees leaving due to radiation leaks from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The village is designated by the central government as being within the planned evacuation area.
The Iitatemura village government is subsidizing residents' evacuation costs in light of the high concentration of radioactive substances detected in the local water and soil.
However, the subsidy system's inconvenient conditions have prompted criticism from the villagers because those most eager to utilize it--such as families with babies--are effectively prevented from benefiting.
Under the system, the village pays an accommodation fee of 5,000 yen a night (including three meals) to Iitatemura residents who evacuate to outside hotels and ryokan inns that contracted with the village. The subsidies are paid from prefectural coffers.
Those who qualify fall into two categories. One is pregnant women. The other is children under 3 years old accompanied by just one guardian.
Sato, a part-time worker, was angry as the system would separate her family of four--Sato, her husband, 30, and daughters Hina, 5, and Aoi, 2.
If Sato elected to receive the subsidy to evacuate with Aoi, Hina would have to stay home alone when her husband is at work. The system does not cover lodging expenses for her husband and Hina. The subsidy is appealing, she said, but unacceptable because she cannot allow her family to be separated.
Late last month, high levels of radioactive iodine-131 were detected in the village's tap water. The Satos evacuated to her parents' home located outside the village. At that time, the families of Sato's brother and sister also evacuated to the home. "We couldn't stay there too long, and it was stressful for my daughters," Sato said.
Consequently, the Satos returned to their home in the village after a week.
She said her family has decided to remain in their house for the time being.
"We're scared of radiation, but it's important that our family lives together. The nuclear plant has affected everything that was part of normal life," Sato said.
Five months pregnant, Misuzu Abe, 21, shares the same problem as Sato. Abe cannot go outside with her 1-year-old Raiki, for fear of radiation risk to the boy and her unborn baby.
After thinking it through, Abe decided to evacuate with Raiki while leaving her husband alone in the village, and then applied to the village government on April 9. However, she thought twice and retracted the application as she "was worried to be without her spouse especially when pregnant."
The Abes rented an apartment outside the village and moved there with Raiki. But the move has rendered the family ineligible for the Iitatemura evacuation subsidy.
The Fukushima prefectural government set up a subsidy system without any conditions on the age or number of people residing together for all cities, towns and villages located within a 30-kilometer radius of the nuclear plant. However, the system does not cover most of the areas in Iitatemura, which lies only partially within the 30-kilometer limit. As a result, of the 125 qualified villagers, only 37 applied for the subsidy before the April 11 deadline. Like Abe, some submitted but then withdrew their applications, and in the end, only 28 residents actually had evacuated the village as of Sunday.
(Apr. 19, 2011)
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