Nineteen people, fearing for their finances and their children’s health, will sue the government over its prolonged failure to provide assistance under a law to support all victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, sources said.
Nineteen people, fearing for their finances and their children’s health, will sue the government over its prolonged failure to provide assistance under a law to support all victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, sources said.
The plaintiffs, who have been excluded from the existing support framework due to the location of their homes, will demand damages of 1 yen (1 cent) each.
Lawyer Kenji Fukuda said the litigants are seeking a token amount “to represent all victims distressed and worried by the disaster, instead of asking for individual damages.”
Specifically, they want the government to establish a basic policy under the law that was enacted in June 2012 to support children and others affected by the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
In the lawsuit, they will ask the Tokyo District Court to confirm that the government’s inaction in providing assistance under the law has been illegal.
The law, drawn up by a multipartisan group of lawmakers, guarantees assistance in housing and health care, regardless of whether the recipients live in disaster areas, have moved to other areas or have returned from evacuation.
It also says assistance will be provided in areas where radiation levels exceed certain standards and calls for a basic policy covering radiation standards and relief measures.
The plaintiffs, from 16 households, consist of 12 people who left areas where the government did not issue evacuation orders, such as Fukushima and Koriyama, both in Fukushima Prefecture, and seven people who still live in such areas.
People who voluntarily left areas that were not designated for evacuation and those who continued to live in those areas are not eligible for assistance under the current support framework.
More than two years after the nuclear accident started on March 11, 2011, 150,000 residents of Fukushima Prefecture still live away from their homes, including many who voluntarily evacuated.
Takahiro Kobayashi, one of the prospective plaintiffs, evacuated from Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, out of concerns for the health of his four children.
“At the least, the government should provide assistance on its own responsibility” in health checkups, housing and work, said the 40-year-old, who now works at a forestry cooperative in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture.
The Fukushima prefectural government is studying the health impact of radiation on residents of the prefecture, but Kobayashi’s children have not received examinations because there is no medical institution nearby where the service is available.
Kobayashi could not find a suitable house to rent so he took out a loan worth 5 million yen to buy a home. He also borrowed living expenses from relatives.
“I felt I should speak up also for families who are suffering around the country after voluntarily evacuating (from Fukushima Prefecture),” he said.
Tokiko Noguchi, another plaintiff-to-be, stayed in Koriyama because her eldest daughter, then a fifth-grader, said she wanted to graduate from elementary school with her friends.
The 48-year-old mother is most worried about health of her two children and pays for their thyroid gland and blood examinations out of the family expenses.
Government assistance for health checkups will not be provided unless Koriyama is designated an eligible area in the basic policy under the support law.
“I want (the government) to determine standards for protecting our health as soon as possible,” Noguchi said.
The support law stipulates that opinions of disaster victims should be reflected in formulating the basic policy, but the government has not taken any steps.
Work to establish the basic policy has not made progress partly because it is difficult to set radiation standards for areas eligible for assistance.
Some disaster victims said government officials are concerned that the number of evacuees will increase depending on demarcation and negative publicity will spread about designated areas.
A multipartisan group of lawmakers was formed in January to work out measures under the law, but the Diet has not made any move in that direction.