At 2:46pm, March 11, 2011, an unforgettable catastrophe happened; the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. I remember that day; I was screaming "Run faster, run!" to the people on the TV screen as they ran away from huge tsunami waves.

Immediately afterwards, Units 1 and 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi NPS were shut down for emergency, followed by a hydrogen explosion at Unit 1 on March 12, then another one at Unit 3 on March 14. Unit 2 then exploded on March 15. Unit 4 had been shut down for regular inspections, but a fire broke out in its reactor building on March 15. After the fire, all that remained was the building’s framework.

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami killed a significant number of people and left many missing and injured. Victims, including those affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, have been displaced and living as evacuees since that day. Though forgotten, they still suffer, and many are internally displaced people. Has the government paid adequate assistance and provided the necessary allowances, reparations and compensations for each victim? Are the victims living a stable life now?

May the souls of those who died rest in eternal peace. At the same time, I would like to ask our government for appropriate compensation and support to all those affected by the disaster. Please never forget the suffering of the victims. I would like to urge your cooperation too.

Today, as usual, I would like to talk about a victim of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. This time I am featuring a person in “Miyakoji.”

"We are currently working with large tents used as interim storage units in Futaba. Inside each tent, a large mortar-shaped hole was made. The contents of various black bags are then sifted, and soil is separated out from the rocks, wood, and garbage. After the separation, the soil is carried to those tents on trucks. When the trucks arrive, their loads of soil are transferred to belt conveyors, carried through tents on the conveyors, and dumped into those large holes.

My job is to check the soil from the trucks that is poured on the belt conveyor and brought through the tents. I check the flow of soil from outside to inside the tents. I get up at 4 in the morning and leave home at 5:30. I work from 7:00am to 5:00pm. We have a lunch break, so our work time is 8 hours long. The basic salary is 6,000 yen a day for 8 hours, and we receive an additional 10,000-yen hazard pay.

The daily radiation dose we receive is 2-3 µSv in air dose. Only Sundays are off. People with high blood pressure are not allowed to work. There is no age restriction. Those of us in our 70’s can work too. I work in uninhabited Futaba, where the radiation level is too high to live. Since we have already been doing decontamination work for 7 or 8 years in locations with high radiation levels, we are deeply worried about our health. But we pretend not to take it seriously. We have decided to believe that the government will not let us work more than 20mSv/year, because we heard that this job was offered by the Ministry of the Environment.”

(2-3µSv/day x 6 days = 18µSv in only 6 days! In one month, it is 18µSv/week x 4 = 72µSv/month. Thus, these victims are exposed to 72 µSv/month by air in a month. The ground radiation dose is higher than this.)

These victims are among those who did not receive compensation. In order to make ends meet, they have had to do decontamination work. In their small towns, there are no other sources of work. Since the radiation dose is too high, they cannot eat wild vegetables, either. These survivors have been earning a living through decontamination work for seven or eight years. I think that they have already received an unimaginable level of radiation. What do you think? Does this kind of situation seem safe and secure? What would you think if they were your relatives, husband, son or parents? Affected people cannot speak out. So, shouldn’t we speak up on their behalf? Please spread this information to many people. Thank you.

(The following is a continuation of the same victim in Miyakoji)

"As seen on TV, we wear white protective gear, masks, gloves, and goggles. We guide 90 dump trucks a day. And we check that those trucks pour loads of soil on belt conveyors.

For me, the hardest part of this job is to keep standing all day from 7 am to 5 pm, excluding lunch break, regardless of weather conditions; rain, wind, snow, cold or heat.
Standing all day long is so painful!”

They are victims who escaped for fear of being exposed to radiation from a nuclear accident. They know the threat of nuclear radiation more than anyone. For the sake of survival, they now have to do decontamination work at sites with high radiation levels. They do work such as digging holes for intermediate storage and checking dump trucks loaded with contaminated soil.

Miyakoji is a town with a high radiation level. Although the government should have paid compensation to all residents in the contaminated and affected areas, the government and TEPCO have set the limit on recipients to be compensated to those who live within a 20km radius. This unfair situation has split and divided affected people: some households outside the 20km radius could not afford to rebuild or fix their houses despite having high radiation levels, whereas some lucky ones within the 20 km radius did receive compensation, and built new houses, achieving a stable life despite some only having low radiation levels.

Those who did not get compensation despite high radiation levels brought their case to the court because they cannot make ends meet. But the trial’s progress has been extremely slow. Usually, in a court case, the perpetrator must receive a sentence, feel remorse, pay compensation as the result of an acknowledgement of guilt, and apologize to the victim in front of the public.

However, the Fukushima trial case is very unusual. I have heard that its atmosphere makes you wonder "Who is the perpetrator?" and "Who is the victim?"

In my April blog, I would like to talk more about the trial.

Please remember the sadness, suffering, and pain of the nuclear disaster victims. They should not be forgotten. Nowadays, life without electricity has become inconceivable. Please remember that the problem of nuclear power is hiding behind the convenience of electricity. Would you like to help make alternative safe and renewable energy such as solar panels possible?

Please help support the people of Fukushima. Please send a gift of donation out of the kindness of your heart.

Momoko Fukuoka
English translation: Rachel Clark
Editing: Karen Rogers