People Disappeared

 prefectural government of Fukushima released initial data of national census operated last year, which found that population of Fukushima Prefecture decreased by 5.7%, or over 110,000, from the number before East Japan Great Earthquake and the severe accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The reason was clear: evacuation. Since population is a basis for distribution of resources from the central government to local communities, Fukushima will further suffer from consequence of unprecedented disaster.

According to the prefectural government, the population of Fukushima was determined to be 1,913,606 at the time of October 1^st, 2015. The number get smaller by 115,458 than that in 2010, which had amounted 2,029,064. While males reduced by 39,715 during five years, number of female dropped by 75,743. This gender gap caused by a tendency that mothers had evacuated with her kids, escaping from negative impact of radioactive materials, leaving her husband in Fukushima to work. Male construction workers who dealt with decontamination effort also caused the gap.

Among six towns and villages where entire evacuation order was laid, four towns, Namie, Tomioka, Okuma and Futaba, counted no population. The rest of two, villages of Iitate and Katsurao, counted a few residents who declared to stay for three months or longer to prepare for returning or who had to stay in nursery facility because of illness. Although evacuation order to Naraha town was lifted in this September, the population of the town decreased from 7,700 to 976. It is clear that the nuclear power plant has created ghost towns around it.

Meanwhile, Fukushima government announced that deaths related to the earthquake and nuclear accident exceeded 2,000 by Thursday. While Fukushima lost 1,604 lives with direct impact of earthquake or tsunami, 2006 people died after they once saved their lives in the disaster. They must not have to die, if they had not left their home for so long. Number of related deaths in Fukushima is far greater than in other suffered area such as Iwate or Miyagi.

Urgent and important issue is how to take care of evacuees. National government decided to end support for evacuees from residential restricted area and returning preparation area in March, 2018. Budget of local government, highly dependent on subsidy from national government, will suffer from scarcity of reduced amount of money for reconstruction. While national government promotes returning policy, evacuees are getting more difficult to get back their