Fukushima victims sue Japan gov't, TEPCO

TOKYO - Hundreds of people affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan filed a class action lawsuit Monday demanding greater efforts to clean up the contaminated region two years on from the disaster.

Some 800 plaintiffs filed the case with the Fukushima District Court, demanding 50,000 yen ($520) a month each from the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) until the area is restored, their lawyers said in a statement.

The plaintiffs are mostly from Fukushima, but also include some residents of neighbouring prefectures, the lawyers said.

"Through this case, we seek restitution of the region to the condition before radioactive materials contaminated the area, and demand compensation for psychological pains until the restitution is finished," the statement said.

The case was filed as Japan marked the second anniversary of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11, 2011, which unleashed a giant tsunami along the northeastern Pacific coast.

The natural disasters killed nearly 19,000 people, including those whose bodies are yet to be recovered.

The huge waves crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which went through meltdowns and explosions, spewing radioactive materials into surrounding areas.

The Fukushima accident forced tens of thousands of residents near the area to abandon their homes and jobs in heavily contaminated areas. It is not clear when they can return home, if ever.

"Through this case, we will clarify the responsibility of TEPCO, which caused the accident, and the government which neglected to take sufficient safety measures and promoted nuclear power with utilities as a national policy," the statement said.

"This case is not only aimed at saving victims, but also at pushing the government to thoroughly change its pro-nuclear policy and therefore prevent people becoming victims in the future," it said.

The court filing came as people all over Japan bowed their heads in silence to remember those killed by the tsunami two years earlier.

Ceremonies were held in towns and cities throughout the disaster zone, as well as in Tokyo, where Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko led tributes to those who lost their lives in the natural disaster.

No one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the disaster at Fukushima.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Intel reveals Japan gov't warned about nuclear meltdown after 2011 tsunami

TOKYO, Japan- Japan was preparing to mark the first anniversary of its tsunami On Saturday, when government papers revealed ministers were warned of the possibility of meltdowns at Fukushima just after the waves struck.

A summary of a government meeting held about four hours after a giant earthquake sent a wall of water crashing into the atomic power station showed that one unidentified participant had cautioned of the risk of a meltdown.

"If the temperature of the reactor cores rises after eight hours, there is a possibility that a meltdown will occur," the person said, according to the summary released on Friday.

Fukushima Daiichi, 220 kilometres (140 miles) northeast of Tokyo, spewed radiation after its cooling systems were knocked out by the tsunami when it crushed coastal communities and left more than 19,000 people dead or missing.

The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) maintained for months there had been no meltdown at Fukushima, despite repeated warnings from independent experts.

They finally admitted in May that three of six reactors had suffered meltdowns.
Tens of thousands of people were made homeless by the nuclear crisis and some tracts of land inside a 20-kilometre exclusion zone are expected to be uninhabitable for decades because of radiation levels.

Friday's revelations came as Japan prepared to mark the first anniversary of the tragedy.
Much of public life will pause on Sunday at 2.46 pm (0546 GMT) to mark the exact moment a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the country's east coast on March 11 last year.
Public transport was expected to stop, and Tokyo's busy shopping districts will fall silent for a minute as the country honours the memory of those who died when the towering tsunami smashed ashore.

A formal ceremony in the capital will be the centrepiece of Japan's official remembrance, with speeches from Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Emperor Akihito.

The 78-year-old emperor, who underwent heart surgery three weeks ago, will attend 20 minutes of the hour-long ceremony with Empress Michiko, the royal household said Saturday.
Some trains in and around Tokyo will be stopped to observe the silence on Sunday, Kyodo reported, adding underground rail services in the capital will also be halted briefly in the morning.

Anti-nuclear protests were scheduled in Tokyo and Fukushima, as well as other parts of the country, while candle-lighting ceremonies were expected to commemorate the victims of the natural disaster.

Setsuko Kuroda, who was organising a two-day anti-nuclear protest in Koriyama, near Fukushima, said 20,000 people were expected on Sunday.

"We demand all children are evacuated from Fukushima now," she told AFP.
"Some experts say one-third of children in Fukushima were affected by radiation.

"Leaving the situation like this is like they are committing a murder everyday."
Writing in the Washington Post, Noda said the events of March 11 were etched in the nation's memory.

"We will not forget the loved ones, friends and colleagues lost in the disaster," he said.

"Nor will we forget the outpouring of support and international expressions of solidarity that Japan received. For this, we feel deeply indebted and forever appreciative."

Noda, who is battling sliding approval ratings as he tries to push through an unpopular tax rise aimed at making a dent in Japan's mountain of debt, said the country would recover.

He pledged to press ahead with reconstruction of tsunami-hit areas and with the full decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, as well as decontamination of irradiated land and the "revitalisation" of the Japanese economy.

But for some of those who lost loved ones, a more pressing need to lay ghosts to rest was at hand.

In badly-hit Iwate prefecture, home to a third of the more than 3,200 still listed as missing in the disaster, 300 police and 80 coastguard officers on Saturday continued an intensive three-day search for bodies.

It followed the end of a search in Fukushima on Friday, where hundreds of police and volunteers spent two days looking for the bodies of more than 200 people still missing in the prefecture.

Some of the bodies may be inside the no-go zone around the nuclear plant, which has been off-limits for the last year.

In Nihonmatsu, 71-year-old Yoshiko Kanno, who has lived in temporary housing since fleeing her home in nuclear-hit Namie, said on the anniversary she would be praying for the souls of those who died.

"It was a year of fears and anxiety," she said. "I never dreamed of being here a year ago. My wish is that I won't end my life here."

source: interaksyon.com

Fukushima in spotlight at Berlin film festival

BERLIN — The Fukushima nuclear disaster has come under the spotlight at Berlin’s film festival with three films exploring its impact on Japanese society less than a year on.

The 11-day festival, which prides itself on its generally edgier and more politically-overt line-up over other film showcases, was perhaps a fitting backdrop for the documentaries.

“I’m more than happy to be here because the Berlinale has got a long history of showing all those political, socially conscious films,” Atsushi Funahashi, director of “Nuclear Nation,” told AFP.

He said that although he was sensitized to the nuclear question because his family had been affected by the 1945 allied atomic bombing of Hiroshima, he was unsure at first how to tackle Fukushima.

“First of all, I didn’t know what to do as a filmmaker, but I knew I had to do something,” he said, adding one of his motives had been the difference in data from international and Japanese officials.

He focuses on the exile of residents of Futaba, where the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was based, to an abandoned high school 250 kilometers away.

The story homes in on a mayor whose town no longer exists as he tries to keep the community together.

“No Man’s Zone,” by Toshi Fujiwara, journeys inside a 20-kilometer area which was evacuated after the disaster, as well as surrounding areas, to talk to “normal” people about how their lives were affected.

With slow panoramic sweeps of battered buildings by the sea, thick piles of rubble, boats lying on their side and crumpled cars, the film opens saying that images of destruction are “always difficult to digest.”

It intersperses lingering shots of cherry blossom trees in the spring, cattle and green landscapes with frank conversations with farmers and fishermen who have lost their livelihood.

An older couple talk openly and animatedly about how they want to keep their damaged home despite the cost of repairing it and their experiences of having to stay in a refuge.

“I had a very strange feeling that the people who were directly concerned were somehow very neglected,” Fujiwara said.

Meanwhile, in “Friends After 3.11,” director Iwai Shunji discusses the political, social and economic state of the country with new “friends” that include a nuclear plant engineer, banker and journalists.

“I want to portray Japan’s present and future as told by these ‘friends,’” he said.

The disaster, triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, contaminated the environment and forced tens of thousands of residents around the Fukushima nuclear site in northeast Japan to evacuate their homes.

Many still do not know if or when they will be able to return.

source: japantoday.com