PART 2.2:
EVACUEES AND RETURNEES
MARCH 2015
EVACUEES AND RETURNEES — in Brief
Their lives are uprooted, and their grievances are immense and deep-seated. Much of their plight is rooted in hastily made decisions about where to draw lines between the evacuated and those who were allowed to remain — assuming they wanted to, or would be financially able to leave if they didn’t. At the moment, not many evacuees want to return to their abandoned home towns despite enticements from all levels of government, but quite a few who lived outside the evacuation zones have returned. Meanwhile a huge disparity in compensation has driven communities even further apart.
2.2.1 — Number of evacuees
According to Fukushima Prefecture, as of late January 2015, the number of evacuees stood at 121,585, down from 164,218 in December, 2012, of whom about 85,000 had been ordered to evacuate by the government, while the remaining 75,000 or so were living outside the mandated evacuation zones, and evacuated “voluntarily.” Of the present 121,585 evacuees, roughly 79,000 cannot return home until their towns have been declared open again; about 42,000 have no such legal barrier to return. Currently, about 76,000 live in other municipalities within Fukushima, and about 46,000 are outside Fukushima Prefecture.
Fukushima Prefecture gives the following breakdown:
— From the “Difficult to return” area (red on official maps): 24,400 people (9100 households).
— From the “Residence prohibited” area (orange on official maps): 23,000 people (8,400 households).
— From the “Prepare to return” area (green on official maps) : 31,800 people (10,900 households).
— From the former “Evacuation prepared” zone (between 20–30 km): 20,000 people (household breakdown not found).
— From other parts of Fukushima Pref.: 28,000 people (household breakdown not found).
Steps for Revitalization in Fukushima, Jan 30, 2015
At present, the rate of return to newly reopened communities such as the eastern part of Kawauchi-mura, reopened in Nov. 2014, and the eastern part of Miyakoji, reopened in April 2014, has been low; population remains 10.5% and 39.1% of pre-disaster totals, respectively, despite what some consider a concerted “safety campaign” on the part of the government.
Mainichi Shimbun: Status of the evacuation areas: return not moving forward, 10% in Kawachimura (in Japanese)
In fiscal 2014, a government survey was done which covered households from seven municipalities affected by evacuation orders. 48% of the 16,600 respondents said they do not plan to return home, up from 30–35% in previous years. A similar Reconstruction Agency survey which was conducted between August and October, 2014, covering evacuee households in hard-hit Namie, Futaba, Okuma, and Tomioka, showed that only 10–20% overall desired to return. Continuing concern over radiation is given as a primary reason, but there are many other factors which make staying away the most compelling choice for many households. Families with young children are the most likely to stay away, and few older people want to live in towns with nothing but old people. Infrastructure, transportation, and other services can be restored, but these communities have lost their vitality as well as their tax bases, and though subsidies can help, without young people and new businesses the future is likely to be one of merely marking time. The lack of young people was already a serious problem before the disaster. Many households depended upon agriculture or fisheries for their livelihoods, but despite rebounding markets in a few categories, the Fukushima stigma is likely to depress sales for years to come. In order to encourage voluntary evacuees to return, in 2012 Fukushima prefecture started offering rent-free housing in selected areas where radiation levels are low, and this may account for some of the returning population since then.
Asahi Shimbun: Fukushima cleanup fails to convince as just 10 to 20% of evacuees seek return (paywalled)
Japan Times: More Fukushima evacuees are deciding to stay away for good
Japan Times: 267,000 still evacuees three years on
It should not be forgotten that the entire tsunami-affected Tohoku coast faces a similar problem, with a roughly equal number of evacuees, though in their case the actual rebuilding of infrastructure and places to live is still years away for most. Official evacuee data for Iwate and Miyagi, the two prefectures most hard hit by the tsunami, has a number of uncertainties. The biggest is that many people evacuated without notifying authorities, and have kept their original official addresses. The system put in place by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for tracking evacuees in Tohoku has come under strong criticism for its inadequacies, such as frequent failures to remove the names of people who have returned from the system. To some degree these problems affect evacuee records in Fukushima as well, but because a special law was enacted on their behalf in 2011 to enable them to obtain administrative services in their places of temporary residence, and because most of them qualify for compensation payments, most appear to have registered and updated their evacuee status. For this reason, Fukushima Pref.’s evacuee records are more complete than those of Iwate and Miyagi. Nevertheless, researchers and others believe that serious gaps exist between the official records and the actual displacement of affected persons in the entire Tohoku region.
Keeping these uncertainties in mind, recent data from the Reconstruction Agency gives the following numbers, as of Feb 12, 2015:
Currently living in:
— Iwate: 29,433
— Miyagi: 70,949
— Fukushima: 72,790 (as opposed to Fukushima Pref’s most recent figure of about 76,000)
Total number of evacuees living outside these 3 prefectures: 128,481
(The Reconstruction Agency data does not make it easy to determine how many of these are from each affected prefecture).
Reconstruction Agency evacuee data, Feb. 2015 (in Japanese)
Problems with evacuation policy are dealt with in detail in the NAIIC report:
National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC), 2012
Also in independent reports such as this:
IDDRI — Disaster Evacuation from Japan’s 2011 Tsunami Disaster and the Fukushima Nuclear Accident, 2013
2.2.2 — Compensation
Regardless of whether they were ordered to leave or did so voluntarily, all evacuees from the nuclear accident qualify for or have received financial compensation from TEPCO, ultimately paid for by taxpayers, though the amounts differ greatly depending upon this status. From the start the compensation scheme was confusing and controversial, and has been revised several times. Regardless, the overall process of obtaining compensation from TEPCO has been very complicated and slow in general, and depends upon time-consuming arbitration. In areas where evacuation was mandated, within each community citizens are likely share similar grievances, and the biggest divide is between those who lived in areas which have a good chance of being reopened in the near future and those from the “difficult to return” zone, primarily the towns of Namie, Futaba, and Okuma, for whom return is many years away at best.
The compensation system is discussed in detail in this OECD report:
TEPCO publishes compensation payment totals monthly, but the guidelines upon which the listed categories are based, as well as detailed breakdowns in terms of how much has been paid per person or per household, are difficult to find:
TEPCO: Records of Applications and Payouts for Indemnification of Nuclear Damage, Feb 27, 2015
This states that to date 4,271.2 billion yen in compensation has been paid in total: — 2,090.3 billion yen to forced evacuees — 353.0 billion yen to voluntary evacuees — 2,118.1 billion yen to businesses
When the amounts in each category are simply divided by the number of evacuees, however, the results are implausibly high: — Forced evacuees: 85,000 = ¥24,591,764 per person — Voluntary evacuees: 75,000 = ¥4,706,666 per person
This news article from October, 2013, gives average compensation payments given to households at that time (note that the dollar equivalents given here are based on ¥100 = $1.00 for simplicity, though the actual rate fluctuates).
Asahi Shimbun: Panel willing to extend compensation period for Fukushima evacuees (paywalled)
It states that, according to the Evaluation Committee For Nuclear Damage Compensation Disputes, as of Sept. 20, 2013, an average family of four forced out of no-entry zones had received about 90 million yen — about $900,000 — in compensation from Tokyo Electric Power Co..
The average payments which make up this total include: — 49.1 million yen ($491,000) for property, such as real estate, building and furniture — 10.9 million yen ($100,900) for lost wages — 30 million yen ($300,000) for psychological suffering
An article from Dec. 2013 gave similar figures:
Asahi Shimbun: TEPCO to pay evacuees additional 7 million yen for ‘loss of hometowns’
25,000 people from “difficult-to-return zones” qualify for: — 7 million yen ($66,700) for “loss of hometown” — 14.5 million ($145,000) yen per person, total compensation
For a family of 4: — From “difficult to return” zone : 106.75 million yen overall ($1,067,500) — From “residence restricted” zone: 71.97 million yen overall ($719,700) — From “prepare to return” zone: 56.81 million yen overall ($568,100)
Based on compensation standards set by the evaluation committee and TEPCO, the government had previously estimated that four-member families would receive 63.03 million yen ($630,030).
Finally, a recent Asahi Shimbun article gives a breakdown of payments received for due per person for psychological suffering:
For mandated evacuees: — From “difficult to return” zone : 14.5 million yen ($145,000) — From “residence restricted” zone: 7.2 million yen ($72,000) — From “prepare to return” zone: 4.8 million yen ($48,000)
For voluntary evacuees: — From within the 30km zone: — — High-school age and under: 2.15 million yen ($21,500) — — Adults: 1.8 million yen ($18,000)
— From Fukushima City, Iwaki, and 21 other towns: — — Children and pregnant women: 520,000 yen ($5,200) — — Others: 120,000 yen ($1,200)
— From 9 towns in southern Fukushima, also Marumori-mura in southern Miyagi: — — Children and pregnant women: 280,000 yen ($2,800) — — Others: 40,000 yen ($400)
Again, these amounts are for psychological suffering only, and do not include other compensation for property, lost wages, etc..
Recent payment breakdown data is hard to find, and it is difficult if not impossible to verify the amounts that have been paid. Various payments, such as compensation for lost wages and to businesses, initially were scheduled to stop after a few years, but in many cases affected people have successfully lobbied for the payments to be extended, though the process is extremely slow, with many arbitration cases still ongoing. Evacuees also have been receiving 100,000 yen ($1,030) per month in psychological suffering compensation. This money is paid unconditionally, but is stipulated to stop one year after the resident returns to their reopened hometown. Government programs to subsidize housing for returnees seems to be intended to compensate for this, but the payments act as a disincentive to return. Evacuees are eligible for most of their other compensation payments whether they return or not, and the government reportedly would prefer to offer lump-sum payments instead of periodic ones, in order to remove the fear of losing payments as a deciding factor in return.
Some recent media accounts have reinforced the impression that the apparently high compensation evacuees have received have made them the object of resentment in other communities in Fukushima. Many communities have been split between the well-compensated and the poorly compensated, and in towns such as Iwaki, which have received a large number of evacuees, many local residents apparently feel that evacuees are parasites living on the dole.
Reuters: Fukushima fallout: Resentment grows in nearby Japanese city, Aug 21, 2014
The reality is that for a family forced to leave a homestead and community in which they have lived for generations, and to be deprived of their accustomed livelihood, it is difficult to say that any compensation can ever be adequate. Undoubtedly cases of abuse and unjustified payment exist, and these sometimes appear in the media. But the main problem, often pointed out by outside observers, is that no realistic guidelines for compensation were in place prior to the disaster, and many subsequent decisions concerning evacuation were made in ways which split communities along mandated and unmandated lines, though the affected families may have lived on opposite sides of the same street. Add to this the mistrust of government assurances concerning the safety of the decontaminated areas to which they are being asked to return, and the suspicion that promised payments will not in fact be received, and great disincentives to return exist and continue to divide affected communities.
2.2.3 — Evacuee housing
The situation in Fukushima is complicated by the fact that the prefecture has evacuees affected by the both the earthquake and tsunami and by the nuclear disaster, and must provide housing for both. Housing falls into two categories, temporary housing units, generally prefabricated, and standard dwelling units, such as apartments, which are subsidized by the prefectural government. Although a clear breakdown has not been found, in terms of “nuclear” evacuees, Fukushima prefecture is primarily concerned with housing the portion of the 76,000 evacuees currently living in Fukushima that were forcibly evacuated.
The prefecture has built 16,607 units of temporary housing altogether, and rented an additional 18,686 units, for the use of both earthquake/tsunami and nuclear evacuees. Temporary housing was intended to be used for only 4 years, but has been extended through March 2016. In addition, new public housing is being constructed; while 1070 of the 2702 units intended for earthquake/tsunami evacuees have been completed, only 261 or the 4890 units for nuclear evacuees have. Considering that these can serve only a small portion of the total number of evacuees, it is clear that alternate arrangements are being used by most.
Fukushima Pref.: Steps for Revitalization in Fukushima, Jan 20, 2015
The lack of fully equitable compensation and housing arrangements, which would clearly not present coercion to return nor incentive to relocate, and would not favor some community members over others, has been presented as a human rights issue. In fact, we have spoken with forced evacuees who feel they are well apprised of the risks, but would like to return immediately nonetheless, and feel that their rights are being infringed by not be allowed to. We have heard from more citizens, however, who resent the fact that despite well-documented contamination in their neighborhoods, they did not qualify for evacuation and full compensation.
(end of section 2.2)
TO OTHER SECTIONS:
2.1- Issues at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Powerplant (FDNPP)
2.2- Evacuees and Returnees
