Masashi sent the following information regarding the evacuation procedures for Iitate village.
"On April 22, the Japanese prime minister officially announced the inclusion of Iitate village into the evacuation area. They are designated to complete the evacuation within a month (by the end of May). The national government dispatched several public officers to set up a task force for evacuation within the Iitate village office. They are expected to help Iitate village to complete this evacuation smoothly.
Iitate village also announced the basic principles for evacuation and set a priority of residents to be evacuated. Families with babies or pregnant woman should be given first priority, and then families with person aged less than 18 years old, and three districts which showed higher level of radioactivity. All residents would be eventually evacuated to hotels or apartment houses designated by the village. Gymnastic halls, typically used for temporal shelters after the disaster, are not used in this case."
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Iitate Mayor meets with the Prime Minister
Masashi reported the following.
"Today (April 19) Japan's Prime Minister, Mr. Kan Naoto, met with Iitate mayor Mr. Kanno at the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo. The Prime Minister explained the situation of the nuclear power plant and background of the decision to designate Iitate village and several other municipalities as part of the evacuation areas. Mayor Kanno argued there is such a huge risk arising from the evacuation of the whole village, and asked the Prime Minister to understand this kind of hardship. Prime Minister Kan apologized to him and asked for Mayor Kanno's cooperation for this evacuation plan."
"Today (April 19) Japan's Prime Minister, Mr. Kan Naoto, met with Iitate mayor Mr. Kanno at the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo. The Prime Minister explained the situation of the nuclear power plant and background of the decision to designate Iitate village and several other municipalities as part of the evacuation areas. Mayor Kanno argued there is such a huge risk arising from the evacuation of the whole village, and asked the Prime Minister to understand this kind of hardship. Prime Minister Kan apologized to him and asked for Mayor Kanno's cooperation for this evacuation plan."
Monday, April 18, 2011
Iitate plans for evacuation
Masashi provided this update of the evacuation plans for Iitate.
"On April 16 and 17, Iitate village received a series of visits by officials of Cabinet Secretariat, including Mr. Edano, Chief Cabinet Secretariat, and Mr. Fukuyama, Vice Chief Cabinet Secretariat. In Iitate village, Mr. Edano discussed the government plan for evacuation with Mayor Kanno and residents. Participants of the meeting have raised their deep concerns on their future, and expressed their discomfort with the way in which the government announced the evacuation plan without prior notice to the village. Mr. Fukuyama mentioned the plan to move Iitate cattle to another place to continue their livestock farming. However, some farmers feel it is very difficult to do that, and the brand name of Iitate beef would be difficult to maintain. Already Iitate beef is suffering from lower price because of this situation.
On April 12, the village’s assembly (parliament) had a meeting with village officials and agricultural cooperatives, and adopted a resolution to stop all kinds of planting this year.
Between April 13 and 16, Iitate village had a series of community meetings on how to respond to the evacuation plan. There was much discussion, but there was so much uncertainty in terms of the impact of radiation, the duration of the evacuation, the lingering negative image to Iitate products, the level of compensation from the electric company and government, and so on.
On April 17, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) released their working plan for the restoration of the nuclear power plant. Based on their plan, it takes about 6 to 9 months to restore the plant and establish a containment system of radioactive materials. This means radiation would continue to spill out throughout this year or even until early next year. It is crucial to estimate how much radioactive materials, such as cesium, would be accumulated around the plant by the end of this year, and assess the impact on farming and fishing."
"On April 16 and 17, Iitate village received a series of visits by officials of Cabinet Secretariat, including Mr. Edano, Chief Cabinet Secretariat, and Mr. Fukuyama, Vice Chief Cabinet Secretariat. In Iitate village, Mr. Edano discussed the government plan for evacuation with Mayor Kanno and residents. Participants of the meeting have raised their deep concerns on their future, and expressed their discomfort with the way in which the government announced the evacuation plan without prior notice to the village. Mr. Fukuyama mentioned the plan to move Iitate cattle to another place to continue their livestock farming. However, some farmers feel it is very difficult to do that, and the brand name of Iitate beef would be difficult to maintain. Already Iitate beef is suffering from lower price because of this situation.
On April 12, the village’s assembly (parliament) had a meeting with village officials and agricultural cooperatives, and adopted a resolution to stop all kinds of planting this year.
Between April 13 and 16, Iitate village had a series of community meetings on how to respond to the evacuation plan. There was much discussion, but there was so much uncertainty in terms of the impact of radiation, the duration of the evacuation, the lingering negative image to Iitate products, the level of compensation from the electric company and government, and so on.
On April 17, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) released their working plan for the restoration of the nuclear power plant. Based on their plan, it takes about 6 to 9 months to restore the plant and establish a containment system of radioactive materials. This means radiation would continue to spill out throughout this year or even until early next year. It is crucial to estimate how much radioactive materials, such as cesium, would be accumulated around the plant by the end of this year, and assess the impact on farming and fishing."
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Crisis assessment raised to Level 7
Masashi sent the following e-mail today.
"Today (April 12) the government released the result of a reassessment of the crisis level of the Fukushima nuclear plant. It is set to "Level 7". This is the highest level based on the international standard. Level 7 is the same level as the Chernobyl disaster. While the government emphasized the differences from Chernobyl - where a catastrophic explosion of the reactor chamber occurred, this reassessment is now taken very seriously in Japan and abroad. This will have far-reaching impacts on the economy. Also this indicates that complete stabilization of the plant may still take a long time.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/12_05.html"
"Today (April 12) the government released the result of a reassessment of the crisis level of the Fukushima nuclear plant. It is set to "Level 7". This is the highest level based on the international standard. Level 7 is the same level as the Chernobyl disaster. While the government emphasized the differences from Chernobyl - where a catastrophic explosion of the reactor chamber occurred, this reassessment is now taken very seriously in Japan and abroad. This will have far-reaching impacts on the economy. Also this indicates that complete stabilization of the plant may still take a long time.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/12_05.html"
Monday, April 11, 2011
Iitate village now under evacuation orders
Masashi e-mailed me today with the following news.
"Today (April 11) the Japanese government announced an expansion of the evacuation zone, and Iitate village as a whole is now included in that zone. This newly added zone is designated based on data suggesting that residents would be exposed to more than 20 milli Sv per year if this situation continues. Four other municipalities or parts of them in Fukushima prefecture were also included in the zone. Residents are requested to evacuate within a month. Now Iitate residents have come to face a very big problem.
Today, we also had rather large aftershocks: one of them was 7.1 magnitude, exactly once month later of the 3.11 earthquake.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-asia-pacific-13032122
"Today (April 11) the Japanese government announced an expansion of the evacuation zone, and Iitate village as a whole is now included in that zone. This newly added zone is designated based on data suggesting that residents would be exposed to more than 20 milli Sv per year if this situation continues. Four other municipalities or parts of them in Fukushima prefecture were also included in the zone. Residents are requested to evacuate within a month. Now Iitate residents have come to face a very big problem.
Today, we also had rather large aftershocks: one of them was 7.1 magnitude, exactly once month later of the 3.11 earthquake.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-asia-pacific-13032122
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Concordia students win award for Japanese support
Upon receiving news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a group of students at Concordia university organized a fund-raising campaign - selling baked goods and gathering contributions. On Friday, their hard work was recognized with a Concordia Council on Student Life Award. They have decided to pass on their contributions to Peace Winds Japan - the same group with which Mao has been working over the last few months. I have attached a photo of the group that I took at the awards ceremony. Tomoe, one of the members, is currently in Japan pursuing her PhD work so she was unable to be in the photo.
Mayor Kanno on Iitate's future
Masashi sent the following message today.
"Today (April 9) the Agricultural Minister, Mr. Kano, visited Iitate village and other rural areas affected by the earthquake and discussed the rehabilitation measures for the future. News media reported that Iitate mayor Kanno proposed to the Minister that biofuel crops, such as rapeseed or sunflowers would be one of the options in Iitate village, and the mayor hopes Iitate can develop an excellent rehabilitation model based on cooperation among industry/government/academics in order to survive the current nuclear crisis.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) announced on April 8 that rice planting should be suspended this year in paddy fields that show higher levels of radiation (over 5,000 Bq/kg of cesium in the soil). In addition, harvested rice in other areas which show lower levels should have their radiation levels tested before selling.
With respect to Peter’s questions regarding the rural market and Awano’s situation, I do not have enough information to answer them in a satisfactory fashion.
However, it seems to me that recovering the rural market would take time. It will be a long process and we do not see how long it takes at this point. It is no exaggeration to say that no one in Japan can escape from the huge impact of the earthquake. Huge damage has affected the fishing, farming, manufacturing, and tourist industries, and so on in Japan. The loss of foreign labourers would affect various sectors in Japan. It is difficult to say when they would decide to return to Japan under the current condition of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The government has proposed various types of transitional loans with lower interest rates, and compensation schemes to affected industries. A recently released plan for the first supplementary budget reached more than US$30 billion. In order to overcome this critical situation, the current ruling party (Democratic Party) is seeking an alliance with the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), the former ruling party. It is referred to as a grand alliance. The political game has now begun."
"Today (April 9) the Agricultural Minister, Mr. Kano, visited Iitate village and other rural areas affected by the earthquake and discussed the rehabilitation measures for the future. News media reported that Iitate mayor Kanno proposed to the Minister that biofuel crops, such as rapeseed or sunflowers would be one of the options in Iitate village, and the mayor hopes Iitate can develop an excellent rehabilitation model based on cooperation among industry/government/academics in order to survive the current nuclear crisis.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) announced on April 8 that rice planting should be suspended this year in paddy fields that show higher levels of radiation (over 5,000 Bq/kg of cesium in the soil). In addition, harvested rice in other areas which show lower levels should have their radiation levels tested before selling.
With respect to Peter’s questions regarding the rural market and Awano’s situation, I do not have enough information to answer them in a satisfactory fashion.
However, it seems to me that recovering the rural market would take time. It will be a long process and we do not see how long it takes at this point. It is no exaggeration to say that no one in Japan can escape from the huge impact of the earthquake. Huge damage has affected the fishing, farming, manufacturing, and tourist industries, and so on in Japan. The loss of foreign labourers would affect various sectors in Japan. It is difficult to say when they would decide to return to Japan under the current condition of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The government has proposed various types of transitional loans with lower interest rates, and compensation schemes to affected industries. A recently released plan for the first supplementary budget reached more than US$30 billion. In order to overcome this critical situation, the current ruling party (Democratic Party) is seeking an alliance with the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), the former ruling party. It is referred to as a grand alliance. The political game has now begun."
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