It has been 10 and a half years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 11 days.
While the reconstruction of housing has progressed, there are still issues such as the restoration of living, the removal of the difficult-to-return area in Fukushima, where access is still severely restricted, and the passing down of memories of the earthquake.
Ten and a half years ago, on March 11, a huge earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 occurred off the coast of Tohoku, and a large tsunami with a height of over 10 meters rushed in.
The TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station lost power due to the tsunami, and three reactors melted down one after another.
According to the National Police Agency, as of March, the total number of people who died in Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima was 15,899, and the total number of missing persons was 2526.
According to the Reconstruction Agency, the so-called "earthquake-related deaths" that died due to poor physical condition due to evacuation life were at least 3774 people nationwide as of the end of March, including "related deaths". At least 22,199 people are missing.
In December last year, the planned "disaster public housing" for people who lost their homes was completed, and the prefabricated temporary housing, which had a maximum of more than 110,000 people, was completed. By April last year in Miyagi prefecture, and by the end of March in Iwate prefecture, all of them had moved out.
On the other hand, according to a Miyagi prefecture survey of residents of disaster public housing released in August, one-third of the elderly live alone, and one in five said, "There is no counselor." The isolation of the victims is deepening due to the corona disaster.
In Fukushima Prefecture, evacuation orders due to the nuclear accident are still continuing in a total of 337 square kilometers of difficult-to-return areas in seven municipalities.
In 92% of the areas, there was no prospect of lifting the evacuation order, but in August, the government decontaminated the necessary parts so that the desired residents could return by the 2020s, and efforts to lift the evacuation order. For the first time, I showed the policy of advancing.
However, it is difficult to judge whether to return to the evacuation site while the life at the evacuation site is established, and the issue remains how to understand the intentions of the residents and how much to decontaminate.
Furthermore, as the number of generations who are unaware of the earthquake is increasing even in the disaster area and the storyteller activities are restricted due to the corona disaster, how to convey the lessons learned from the earthquake is also an issue.