Tag Archives: Series

  Hiroko Obara Nearly 100 families who evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture after the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant accident live in Shirasagi Apartment, a municipally-owned, 12-story apartment building located in a quiet residential area in Nakano ward, Tokyo. Evacuees have been holding meetings once a week in a temporary meeting room in the building since September 2011. Two and a half years after the accident, more than 30 people still attend the weekly meeting called Kirasse (meaning “welcome”) Salon. In the salon, elderly people take care of children and listen to young mothers’ worries. “I feel relaxed coming here, looking at children’s smiling faces,” says Norio Takamatsu, 66, who had … Continue reading →

  Jyunichi Miura Urgently wanted: young nurses who can work night shift. Kashima Kosei Hospital, located within 30 km of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, is suffering from chronic shortage of medical staff, especially nurses. With a number of temporary housing complexes built nearby, the hospital, run by an agricultural cooperative in Fukushima, has to accept increasing number of outpatients and emergency patients. The hospital has recruited nurses through newspaper ads and public job placement offices, but has not received many applications. Nurses, who are disaster victims themselves, are caring patients while struggling with their own psychological stress. “We are making desperate efforts to run the hospital with a … Continue reading →

  Hiroki Sakaue Two and a half years after the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake, frustrations remain high for displaced victims struggling with worries over unclear future and isolation due to broken family ties and local community bonds. Local medical services which support the people’s health are also in a critical condition. The Japanese government insists on taking reconstruction measures with consideration for the people of the quake-hit areas, but it is questionable whether the measures really contribute to the top priority goal of rebuilding the people’s lives. 320 people who evacuated from Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, after the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant accident live in temporary housing … Continue reading →

  Tomokatsu Sowa Strelichevo junior high school in Khoiniki district of Belarus’ Gomel region was closed after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, but resumed in 2003. Currently, some 150 students between fifth grade of elementary school and third grade of junior high attend the school, revitalizing the area. In 2006, the Belarus government built a radiation culture center inside the school with the support of the private sector. The center has a radiation measuring device which can be used by students to deepen understanding for radioactive substances. The device is used in chemistry and physics classes and in club activities. On Saturdays, students operate the device to measure radiation in food … Continue reading →

  Tomokatsu Sowa Bragin is a district located in Belarus’ Gomel region 40 km north of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. After the nuclear accident, one-third of the district　which was located within 30 km of the plant has become an off-limit area and its population dropped to 30 percent of the level before the accident. The area of uncultivated land expanded. Looking at the cattle relaxing in rich, green pastures, 52-year-old Yurij Shpilevsky and his wife Tatiana say the place would have become devastated if nothing had been done. They currently raise 10 Holstein cattle and grow grass on a 20-hectare farmland. Shpilevsky, who used to work in a nuclear … Continue reading →