Evacuation order on Fukushima to be lifted in July

On Friday the Japanese Government decided that evacuation orders imposed in Fukushima, in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami which led to one of the worst nuclear disasters in recent history, are to be lifted in July.

The evacuation order which will cover part of the nearby city of Minamisoma is now set to be lifted on July 12, with over 10 000 people being able to return to their homes, over 5 years after the nuclear disaster.

“We have met our objectives concerning decontamination and critical infrastructure construction, fulfilling the conditions needed to cancel the order,” stated Yosuke Takagi, head of the government’s on-site nuclear disaster response headquarters.

The measure has been approved by the city, the central Government of Japan and the Fukushima Prefecture with the scale of this expiration of evacuation orders to be the largest of its kind in Japan.

“After considering resident arguments for and against the cancellation, we have decided that lifting the restrictions is necessary given that there are people who wish to quickly move forward on the road to recovery,” said Minamisoma Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai.

While this is one of several evacuation orders which has been lifted within the Fukushima area, the evacuation order is still in place for 9 municipalities with over 90 000 people still displaced from their homes.