Consequences of Delayed Evacuation in Iitate-Mura Village

Residents of Iiitate-mura in Fukushima prefecture, located within 30 to 50 km radius of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, got their first instruction to evacuate 42 days after the earthquake, and they began to evacuate in mid May.  In the evening of March 15, just 4 days after the accident, the radiation level measured in front of the town hall of the village showed 44.7μSv/h.　So the majority of villagers stayed in the village where the radiation was level was high, for over 2 months. Why was their evacuation delayed？There are two reasons behind this delay. First, although the Japanese government enlarged the evacuation zone from 10 km radius to 30 km radius shortly after the accident, most of Iitate village is outside the 30km radius. Second, village authorities set priority on protecting and sustaining the major industries and jobs in the village. Whether this decision was appropriate should be put to review. Now the villagers are in an even more difficult situation, being unable to draw a plan to rebuild their lives while the government is undertaking decontamination project and promoting them to go back to the village. Focusing on Iitate-mura, this paper addresses the issues regarding the political measures to cope with the nuclear disaster, with comparison with municipalities in the neighboring region.  （220words）