Japan Commemorates 14th Anniversary of Great Disaster

The people in Japan commemorated the fourteenth anniversary of East Japan Great Earthquake on March 11th. Huge tsunami and severe accident in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant took about 22 thousand lives. While reconstruction in the area devastated by tsunami has made a progress, over 27 thousand people still cannot get back to their homes. It seems to be taking time for the evacuees to be settled in comfortable homes.

The great earthquake with magnitude 9.0 caused great tsunami brought 15,900 of deaths, 2,520 of missing people and 3,808 of after-deaths in evacuation. 406 thousand of houses were broken by quake and tsunami. 27,615 people are still in their evacuation, ninety percent of whom are from cities in Fukushima prefecture, where a broad area is still designated as not fitting for living, because of high radiation.

 

One issue paid attention is contaminated soil accumulated in an intermediate storage site stretching over the towns of Futaba and Okuma, where Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is close to. Total amount of the contaminated soil is 14 million cube meters, which is equivalent to the volume of eleven Tokyo Domes.

 

The government of Japan decided to collect radioactive soils, affected by emissions from exploded nuclear power plant, from everywhere in Fukushima prefecture. The government of Japan had promised when it decided to establish the site in 2015 that the soil would be processed in a final disposal site built in somewhere outside Fukushima within thirty years. Nevertheless, there is no viable plan to remove the soil from the intermediate storage site so far.

 

The government considers to reduce the total amount by using three quarter of the soil with relatively low radiation for basis of roads, and the rest would be for final disposal. But concerning current situation with no plan of final disposal, the mayor of Futaba town, Shiro Izawa, revealed his own idea to consume low-level soil in his town or within Fukushima prefecture. Although it may cause the soil remaining in Fukushima, Izawa hopes active discussion over how to deal with the soil. It is inevitable that his idea brings broad controversy.

 

In terms of controversy, a great cost for reconstructing a city, which is devastated by tsunami, on a plateau to prevent next great tsunami is another point of discussion. Rikuzentakata city, Iwate, built a city on the land made by artificially accumulated soil. It is over ten meters above sea level. The construction cost 160 billion yen.

 

There is an argument that it cost too much. However, the tsunami took 1,700 lives in the city out of 24,000 residents. With notion that human lives are priceless, the city determined to rebuild new city which survives any great tsunami in the future. It is necessary for the government of Japan to learn from the lessons of great earthquake fourteen years ago to prepare for future great earthquakes.

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