Government allows evacuees to return home for 2 hours

Ninety-two evacuees from the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant were allowed to temporarily return to their homes on May 10.

The evacuees, from 54 households in Kawauchi village, were bused back to their neigborhoods and allowed to spend up to two hours cleaning their houses and retrieving property.

From around 8:30 a.m., participants in the government-run program gathered at the Kawauchi Village Sonmin Taiiku Center (villagers' physical education center) about two kilometers from the exclusion zone.

Village officials handed out protective suits, walkie-talkies and dosimeters to measure exposure to radiation. They were told to contact officials using the walkie-talkies if they suffered an injury or from illness.

Village head Yuko Endo said, "I thank you for enduring the trials of life as evacuees."

The 92 people were divided onto five buses according to the districts they came from. The first three buses departed at 11:20 a.m., a little later than scheduled.

After entering the no-entry zone, residents were dropped off in their districts and then rushed to their houses on foot. They only were allowed to bring out one 70-centimeter-by-70-cm plastic bag of property.

A total of about 27,000 households from nine municipalities, including Kawauchi, occupy land that is totally or partially within the no-entry zone.

In Kawauchi, 123 households were eligible for the temporary return program. Of them, 60 to 70 percent applied to make the trip.

In principle, only one person from each household was permitted to take part, but two were allowed if the village head judged that one person was insufficient.

The temporary return program will continue on May 12 for households from Kawauchi village that were unable to visit on May 10 and for 18 households from Katsurao village.

The program will be extended to about 4,000 to 7,000 households from each municipality, such as Minami-Soma and Namie, from mid-May onwards.