Only 10% of population returns to Fukushima town

[yuiyoshida]

The Yomiuri Shimbun


Monday marks one year since the lifting of an evacuation order for Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, that was imposed following the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

However, less than 10 percent of the town’s registered population has returned.

The number of new housing built in the town this year reached 296 in June, 4½ times more than last year’s total. However, among Naraha’s registered population of 7,300, only 681 people had returned to live there as of Friday, according to the municipality.

Residents who have resumed farming, the town’s key industry, are also limited in number.

According to the Naraha government, about a quarter of the households were involved in farming before the accident. However, planting has resumed in only about 20 hectares of rice paddies this year, about 5 percent of the town’s farming area before the accident.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003193419