Japan commemorates tsunami and nuclear disaster

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Twelve years after the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan commemorated the victims of the accident. People across the country observed a minute of silence at 2:46 p.m. Saturday to commemorate the moment a magnitude 9.0 quake struck Japan’s northeast coast on March 11, 2011.

Akw Fukushima, which is located by the sea, was hit by a tsunami wave almost 15 meters high shortly after the earthquake. The power plant’s cooling system failed and core meltdowns occurred in three of the six reactors. It was the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

About 18,500 people died as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. The area around the destroyed nuclear power plant was highly radioactively contaminated, about 165,000 had to leave their homes or left voluntarily. To date, many people have not returned to their homes.

“It’s been 12 years now,” said 73-year-old Fumiko Sugawara, from the tsunami-ravaged coastal town of Kesennuma, at the grave of her husband and other relatives, as seen on NHK TV. “We survived, so please take care of us,” she asked the deceased in a prayer.

At a memorial, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised to continue working on the “safe” dismantling of the ruins of the power plant – this is very important for the “healing” of the country. It is also the “responsibility” of the government to better prepare the country for disasters.

In Japan, most nuclear reactors are still shut down. Government plans to return to nuclear power are becoming less controversial. The global energy crisis, which was caused by the Russian offensive war in Ukraine, has also caused electricity prices to rise sharply in Japan.

Under the influence of the energy crisis, the Japanese government now wants to accelerate the return to nuclear energy. Prime Minister Kishida has proposed restarting seven reactors and building new reactors with enhanced safety measures. Recent polls by the newspapers Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun show that for the first time since 2011, a majority of people in Japan support the plan. (AFP)

Source: Blick