By Jangwoo Lee | Program unit
Thank you for your continuous support for Civic Force.
Three years and a month have passed since the occurrence of the Great East Japan Earthquake. In the disaster affected Sanriku coastal areas including Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures, efforts to build new towns are gradually getting underway, such as elevating ground, and building public houses for the victims. On the other hand, the pace of reconstruction has been very slow in some parts of Fukushima prefecture, which have been seriously impacted by radiation from the nuclear power plant accident.
One hundred thirty thousand nuclear accident evacuees have yet to return to their home town. It is said that more than 47,000 of them are now living in other prefectures, with 20 percent staying with relatives and acquaintances while more than 80 percent have started new lives in unfamiliar places (Source: Reconstruction Agency, as of March, 2014).
The government finally gave up on meeting its initial goal of sending all evacuees back home, and has asked about 25,000 people, whose residences are inside the “difficult-to-return zones” where annual radiation exposure level still exceeds 50 millisieverts, to agree to a de facto “permanent relocation.”
Some hope to return to their home town someday and revitalize the town. Some have no choice but to settle in new places to stabilize their lives. These people are all facing the harsh reality and being forced to make difficult decisions.
In order to respond to such complicated feelings of the evacuees, people in and out of Fukushima Prefecture not only must support the return of evacuees but also have the courage to support those people who are starting new lives away from their home town and implement supportive measures for them.
In this monthly report, we will introduce the support project for accepting evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture, which was launched in Hiroshima in August 2013 as part of the NPO Partner Projects for helping the people affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
We will also report on the new aid projects launched by the “Tohoku Common Benefit Investment Fund,” which was established by Civic Force in December 2011 following the earthquake disaster, as well as the progress of the aid for the areas hit by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines last year.
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