11.04.2011 ►Fukushima Evacuation Zone Expanded

Just hours after our field radiation team held a press conference calling for further evacuation around Fukushima, the Japanese government announced that it will extend the mandatory evacuation zone around the stricken nuclear plant to 30km and evacuate the contaminated towns of Namie, Iitate and parts of Minamisoma within one month.

After extended data collection around Fukushima, our field radiation monitoring teams called for the greater Fukushima area to be given official protective status and for the evacuation of pregnant women and children from high risk areas in Fukushima City and Koriyama.

We welcome the announcement of the extention of the evacuation zone however we are still calling on the authorities to focus on long term contamination in other populated areas.

"We welcome the decision by Japan’s government to evacuate areas outside the initial Fukushima 20km zone, however it needs to keep making decisive action to protect people from the contamination risks created by the Fukushima/Daiichi crisis,” said Rianne Teule, radiation expert and radiation field monitoring team leader. “A month has gone by since this crisis began, yet many people in the region have still not received clear information about the risks they face. The government’s next move should be protect the more than 1 million people living in the greater Fukushima City and Koriyama area, by declaring an official protective status."

Greenpeace is calling for the greater Fukushima area to be given an official protective status, for comprehensive food and soil testing to be undertaken, and for the evacuation of pregnant women and children from radiation hotspots in Fukushima City and Koriyama.