Widen evacuation zone for children, pregnant women: Greenpeace chief
The government should consider evacuating children and pregnant women
from a wider area around the Fukushima No. 1 power plant because
radiation levels remain high even outside the 20-km no-go zone, Kumi
Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International, said Thursday in
Tokyo.
Naidoo’s team of radiology experts found hot spots that had a maximum
hourly reading of 45 microsieverts of radiation alongside a school zone.
While the area likely had high levels of radiation as a result of the
landscape or other natural conditions, Naidoo insisted the central
government should conduct thorough checks and provide accurate and fast
information to local residents.
“Enough lives have been lost already” due to the March 11 earthquake and
tsunami, and it is not justifiable for the government to neglect the
health risks of high radiation in Fukushima, he told reporters at the
Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
Naidoo, who arrived in Japan on Sunday, visited Fukushima to meet with
heads of local governments and people affected by the March 11 crisis.
During the news conference, Jan Beranek, an expert on radiology from
Greenpeace International who joined Naidoo’s trip to Fukushima,
recommended that the government widen the evacuation zone to at least 60
or 70 km from the power plant.
He said there were parks and public spaces where the level of radiation
activity hit 9 microsieverts per hour.
Even some nursery schools that have already undergone a decontamination
process had a relatively high reading of 0.5 microsievert per hour, he
said. That would translate into an annual exposure of 5 millisieverts,
which was the evacuation threshold for Chernobyl, Beranek said.
The government recommends a maximum intake of 1 millisievert a year
during normal times, but raises that to 20 millisieverts in times of a
nuclear accident.
Beranek recommended that people in Fukushima residing in areas with high
levels of radiation wear masks and remain inside their homes.
Radiation from some kinds of particles "is not something that goes away
in weeks or months," he said, explaining that some chemical elements can
be absorbed into organs and bones.
While expressing concern that the level of decontamination "hasn’t been
adequate" in Fukushima, Naidoo also said he fears that people there
haven’t received sufficient information from the central government.
Pointing out that many children living near areas with high levels of
radiation are playing outdoors without proper masks, he criticized the
government for being “too slow” in explaining the risks of exposure.
Naidoo, a native of South Africa, was named head of the global NGO in
November 2009. He is scheduled to take part in a rally in Tokyo against
nuclear power on Saturday.
By JUN HONGO, Japan Times Staff writer
* Japan Times, June 10, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110610a6.html
1,700 kids living 20-30 km from N-plant
FUKUSHIMA—At least 1,670 children are living between 20 and 30
kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, despite the
government’s recommendation for residents of that area to get their
children out, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Thursday.
According to local government officials, many of the children left the
area at one point with their parents. However, some later came back when
their mothers and fathers decided to return for work-related reasons,
the officials said.
Based on the law on special measures concerning preparedness for nuclear
emergencies, the government has designated the area between 20 and 30
kilometers from the plant as an emergency evacuation preparation zone.
Residents there are asked to be ready to flee inside buildings or
evacuate the area in case of emergency.
Children who would have difficulty evacuating by themselves, pregnant
women and people who require nursing care have been asked to leave the
area, but the request is not binding.
All areas of Hironomachi and parts of Minami-Soma, Tamura, Narahamachi
and Kawauchimura in Fukushima Prefecture are located within the zone.
However, most of the local governments were unable to determine the
number of children living in the affected areas. An official of the
Tamura government, for example, said the city does not know how many
children are left in the designated areas in the city.
The Minami-Soma municipal government said it had confirmed at least 170
preschool children and 1,500 primary and middle school students were
staying in its Haramachi district.
Most parts of the district are between 20 and 30 kilometers from the
Fukushima No. 1 plant. A total of about 25,000 people, including the
children, are staying in the district, the government said.
About 6,400 children of the same ages lived in the district before the
March 11 disaster.
The four other municipalities had about 2,346 children before the disaster.
According to the Minami-Soma government, residents in most of the
Haramachi district were initially asked to stay indoors after the March
11 disaster. Many residents who fled at this point came back after the
government changed the areas to their current status on April 22, the
government said.
To cope with the increase in the number of children returning, the
government has been using 20 buses to take children to and from seven
primary and middle schools in the city’s Kashima district, which is
located outside the designated area. The service started April 22.
The measure appears to show that the local government is tacitly
approving the presence of children in the zone. A local government
official said: "Most of the parents who’ve come back to the district are
engaged in work related to reconstruction, so we want to support them as
much as possible. With this many children in the district, we have to be
practical."
Yomiuri Shimbun , Jun. 10, 2011
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110609005998.htm