The Yomiuri Shimbun
Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday designated an area spanning five municipalities beyond a 20-kilometer radius of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as a planned evacuation zone and instructed the Fukushima prefectural governor and the municipalities to evacuate their residents within a month.
The prime minister also instructed the governor and mayors of another group of five municipalities with land between 20 and 30 kilometers from the power plant to designate their territory in that zone as areas to be prepared for evacuation if necessary.
Residents in the preparation areas are required to immediately take shelter at home or evacuate the areas if a further emergency occurs.
The planned evacuation zone covers the whole of Namiemachi, Katsuraomura and Iitatemura, excluding areas already designated as no-entry zones, as well as parts of Minami-Soma and Kawamatamachi.
At a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the measure was implemented to protect residents' health, because living in the affected areas for a year could expose them to accumulated radiation levels of 20 millisieverts.
The government aims to complete the evacuation by late next month.
The population of the planned evacuation zone numbers about 10,000. According to the five municipal governments, 6,000 residents still remain in the zone.
Concerning Kawamatamachi and Iitatemura, from which many residents have not voluntarily evacuated, the government will set up a temporary evacuation office comprising officials from the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, and the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry.
The officials will be stationed at the office to assist the residents with the evacuation process.
The central government was searching for hotels, inns and other facilities to be used as shelters in cooperation with local governments.
Edano indicated he wanted to house evacuees in shelters near their original residences if practicable, saying, "We want to reflect the residents' desires as much as possible."
He said consideration would be given to the business operations of plants and other facilities inside the planned evacuation areas, saying, "We'll respond to individual cases based on the advice of the Nuclear Safety Commission."
Edano also indicated such commercial facilities might be allowed to continue operating by, for example, letting workers commute from outside the designated areas.
The evacuation-prepared areas comprise all or part of Narahamachi, Kawauchimura, Hironomachi, Tamura and Minami-Soma. The city of Iwaki also has territory within 30 kilometers of the nuclear plant, but it was not included in the evacuation-prepared area.
The estimated annual accumulated exposure to radiation in the evacuation-prepared areas is under 20 millisieverts, meaning residents do not need to evacuate now.
However, evacuation or staying indoors might become necessary if conditions deteriorate at the nuclear accident site.
The government instructed the municipal governments to facilitate the immediate evacuation of children, pregnant women, people needing nursing care and others who would be unable to quickly evacuate in an emergency.
(Apr. 23, 2011)
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