2012年03月の記事一覧 | 誰かが言わなきゃならない

Kitamura experience in Evacuation Life 35

1. A life never experienced before This article is the last one of my series “Evacuation Life.” How long the life at the evacuation life will last? I do not know how long: may be one year, may be two years. The people at the camp will move to temporary houses, rent houses or may buy their own houses. People will leave the Big Palette, and two camps may be merged to smaller scales. The life at the camps is gradually improving day by day. After almost two months in evacuation, people here are prepared forspending the days to come here. My diary sketches an evacuation life never experienced before. It is a record of the people who were made to evacuate due to nuclear accidents. The life is different from the evacuation life due to natural disasters, almost no prior experience in Japan. The difference is that: (1) the people were instructed to evacuate all of a sudden on one day, although the house was not destroyed, was not flown away due to tsunami and no casualties; and (2) the people are forced to stay 100km away for an indefinite period. Their stresses are further intensified when the news is reported on the people in the earthquake and/or tsunami hit areas, who are working to restore their hometowns and industries. A closest example of our environment may be a gorilla in a zoocage, which was brought there far from Africa. My interest in the evacuation life is shifting to the analyses of the meaning of the accidents; What should the nuclear stakeholders and the people interested in the nuclear future learn from the accidents and think about will be addressed in my separate paper in the near future. Thank you for your interest in my record of experience in the evacuation camp.The evacuation will continue till… When? I don’t know yet. I do hope no more experience will be made by anybody else in Japan and worldwide. “No nuclear accidents” is the only solution to make this happen. My thanks go to all my JAIF colleagues, as equally to volunteers at the camp, who helped my evacuation life, and especially to Toshio Konishi, who translated my record into English. I hope every person, who read this article, will get lessons from it and learn by himself/herselffor peaceful future.

Kitamura experience in Evacuation Life 34

1. Working spirits being lost: A concern of my friend, a shopkeeper He has lived half a month in a resort area in Fukushima Prefecture. He is awarded with an accommodation and two meals per day up to US$50. Theprefecture bears the cost. The scenery around is marvelous, two meals are not bad. Although the lunch costs something, but not much, nothing special to do day after day, TV programs are not effective in killing time. Visited a couple of nearby vista points, but no more places to visit … His job was nothing to do with the NPP. He lost his shop and all customers. He used to get some jobs anyway, although some ups and downs depending on the economy. In low economy, he could find jobs unless he made no selections, while in high economy he could choose what he had wanted to do. But now, living in an unfamiliar location, in a resort area with few people around, he can’t find energy to work. He is not forced to work for living. He can survive for at least three months with no incomes. There is no possibility to return home for months, probably more than one year. Even if he can, there are no certainties at all to go back to his former jobs. Nothing promising to terminate the accidents is foreseen. After three months of this resort life, some other means will take effect for evacuation. Thus, he can spend a year or even longer without doing anything productive. He may lose the energy to work. He is concerned about it.2. Renting of an own apartment was a mistake? A couple of measures have been taken for accommodation by the prefectural headquarters; rent houses, temporary houses (equipped with a sets of five pieces of electric appliance donated by the Red Cross), or three-month secondary evacuation to hotels or ryokan. The people in theBig Palette have applied for all of them. Unfortunately, no measures seem to work in a big scale. All these measures have conditions for selection: a higher priority to a family having an aged member over 75 years old, a pregnant lady or an infant, a very sick member, a member in need of caretaking, or more than three children between 3 and 15 years old, etc. The result so far is zero temporary houses, and less than 1,000 people who moved to rent-houses or hotels. Some bigger spaces are being given these days to the families in the Big Palette. This is not because thenumber of people decreased, but because another big room in the Annex was opened as the evacuation space. A new rule was recently announced: up to US$600 can be awarded per month to the families who rent a house by themselves. Everybody thought they could find their favorite houses to rent. But the reality is the same conditions above are applied. I wonder how many families can usethis new system. The population of Tomioka-cho and Okuma-cho together is about 20,000. People in the evacuation camps are only its 20% or so. Other 80% moved to their relatives in Fukushima Prefecture or Kanto district to stay together or stay at the rent-houses on their own expenses in Koriyamaand other nearby cities. Most of them have a sick member, aged member below 75, education concerns about their children or pets to keep. By various reasons, or having some affordability, they had rented their own houses or apartments. They have to bear the utilities costs. They had to choose this means, because they cannot go and live in their ownhouses. Nobody thinks they are living a gorgeous life. The people staying at a hotel or ryokan with US$50 daily supports have a much more gorgeous life. The conditions and priorities set by the prefectural headquarters exclude most of refugees and save their budget by focusing on the limited groups of people. Priorities to weak people are quite reasonable, but if the system excludes most average people, is it a real relief system? A theory is being argued recently that those in the evacuation camp would get the redress equivalent to the amount for accommodation which those staying at a hotel are paid. If so, it causes the biggest unfairness to those who moved to private rent-houses or apartments on their own expenses. Renting of an own apartment was a mistake?3. Concerns ahead The snow and the climate thaw even in the Tohoku district as May approaches. Shivering coldness is decreasing in the Big Palette, too. Colds, flues and norovirus may be over, but instead, as the tsuyu, rainy season, approaches, new concerns will arise, e.g., food poison or contagious diseases. It is a hard season of a year for refugees under stresses and with lost appetites and strengths. As the evacuation life is prolonged, our houses are also a big concern. The backsides of the houses (in the shade) are easy to get moldy in tsuyu every year. The houses were especially closed tight upon evacuation. No good ventilation is likely. Most houses damaged by theearthquakes lost their roof tiles. Those houses will decay due to rain leaks. Typhoons in autumn will be a big concern. Weeds will cover the gardens. Rice pads and fields will go quickly back to the wild, unless properly farmed. Living environments can be maintained only by constant maintenance. If it is abandoned, the living environments will become miserable in half a year. People’s concerns are endless.

Kitamura experience in Evacuation Life 33

1. Why can we stand the evacuation life full of hardships? Many families remain in the Big Palette by being compromised with the environment. One family opted to stay here, after the family was awarded with a rent-house right by the prefectural headquarters and made a preliminary visit to an apartment. The apartment was not bad. It hasthree rooms as well as a dining kitchen on the second floor of a concrete building near the Koriyama Station, not bad. The reason of their choice was that the area was full of pubs or barsfor one, and for the second their children (primary and junior high schools) preferred remaining in the environment close to their school mates in Tomioka-cho staying in the Big Palette. Further,the words the wife dropped off may show the reality.- We have to pay for the utilities (electricity, water, gas),and for other expenditures for meals, etc.- In other words, nothing costs if we stay in the Big Palette. They have to be prepared for the education costs for the children. The husband decided to leave temporarily the Big Palette alone for work. The wife cannot do a side job at home as before but instead got US$4,500 of donation and US$10,000 of advance compensation. Donation and compensation will follow further. They can be saved for future. Such amount of saving was not practical before. The living environment in the Big Palette is being improved one after another: Washing machines and dryers are installed, no more costs for coin laundries; Sleeping conditions are comfortable on mattresses; the living space made of papers and cloths is more comfortable than anticipated with no dusts and external eye sights; Sufficient time for chatting with friends over free coffees and teas, etc. No costs for TV and newspapers, frequent catering service by volunteers are continuing for varieties of hot dishes; gyudon, udon, waffles, miso soup, etc. Living knowhow in the Big Palette is already in hand and the bodies got accustomed to this environment. Being very unlikely to return home before the end of the year, we are prepared for a long life in the Big Palette.