26,000 People Still Evacuated 15 Years after Tohoku Triple Disaster

Tokyo, March 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan marked the 15th anniversary of the March 2011 massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident on Wednesday, with around 26,000 people still living as evacuees. The number of evacuees across the country stood at 26,281 as of Feb. 1, according to the Reconstruction Agency. Evacuation orders remain in place in seven municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture, where the country’s worst nuclear accident was triggered by the 9.0-magnitude quake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, 2011. Not a few evacuees have given up returning to their hometowns. The government-set second reconstruction phase will end at the end of this month, and in the next five-year period, the government plans to focus on support for Fukushima, including realizing the final disposal of soil collected during decontamination work and promoting evacuees’ return home. The death toll from the triple disaster, which hit hard the Tohoku northeastern region, rose by one from last year to 15,901, as a set of remains found in Miyagi Prefecture was identified as a then 6-year-old girl from neighboring Iwate Prefecture last year, according to the National Police Agency. A total of 2,519 people are still unaccounted for, while 58 bodies kept in Iwate and Miyagi have yet to be identified. The number of deaths from indirect causes related to the disaster reached 3,810 as of the end of last year, according to the Reconstruction Agency. On Wednesday, local authorities in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima will hold memorial ceremonies. Participants will observe a moment of silence for the disaster victims at 2:46 p.m., the time when the earthquake occurred. Last year, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. pushed back the start of the full-scale removal of nuclear debris from the No. 3 reactor at its disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant from the early 2030s to as early as fiscal 2037. TEPCO and the government aim to complete the decommissioning of the plant by 2051, but this goal now seems hard to achieve. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]