Fukushima residents still struggling 2 years after disaster

Abstract

Next week marks 2 years since a magnitude-9·0 earthquake struck northeast Japan, triggering a tsunami that destroyed a vast stretch of coastline and sparking a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Reconstruction of the towns and villages worst hit by the tsunami has barely begun; hundreds of thousands of survivors languish in temporary housing, uncertain of where, or when, their vanished hometowns will be rebuilt. In Fukushima, an estimated 160 000 people who lived within 20 km of the ruined power plant continue to live in a state of limbo. Experts say that the stress of sudden displacement, coupled with lingering fears over the possible health eff ects of continued exposure to low-level radiation, is creating a mental health crisis and infl icting lasting damage on the region’s health infrastructure. Recent assurances from international scientists that radiation releases in the days after the March 11, 2011, disaster will have a negligible eff ect on their health have failed to allay fears among residents. Less than a fortnight before the anniversary, WHO issued an optimistic prognosis of the health impact of radioactive contamination from the Fukushima accident. In a 170-page report, WHO said people living closest to the plant faced only a slightly increased risk of developing cancer during their lifetimes. “A breakdown of data, based on age, gender, and proximity to the plant, does show a higher cancer risk for those located in the most contaminated parts”, said Maria Neira, WHO’s director for public health and environment. Experts agree that children are at greatest risk; after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, about 6000 who were exposed to radiation later developed thyroid cancer because they drank contaminated milk. In Fukushima, however, dairy radiation levels were closely monitored after the disaster. Among infants from the most heavily aff ected areas, radiation from Fukushima would add one percentage point to their lifetime chances of developing cancer, the WHO report said.