Tokyo Court Orders Japanese Government to Compensate Fukushima Evacuees - Reports
The Tokyo High Court has ruled that the Japanese government must pay compensation to the people who were evacuated from the prefecture of Fukushima to Chiba, located near Tokyo, following the nuclear disaster in 2011, NHK World-Japan reported on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th February, 2021) The Tokyo High Court has ruled that the Japanese government must pay compensation to the people who were evacuated from the prefecture of Fukushima to Chiba, located near Tokyo, following the nuclear disaster in 2011, NHK World-Japan reported on Friday.
According to the news outlet, the court's decision has nullified the 2019 ruling of a lower court that obligated only the operator of the nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), to pay damages to the affected residents.
Now, the court found both TEPCO and the government liable before the evacuees, and the two sides will have to pay about $2.
6 million to 40 plaintiffs.
On March 11, 2011, an accident at the Fukushima power plant was triggered by a 46-foot tsunami that hit Japan following a 9.0 magnitude offshore earthquake. The meltdown at three of the plant's four units and hydrogen-air explosions, which were caused by the cooling systems' failure, led to the leakage of radioactive materials. The country's government decided to evacuate over 150,000 people living near the nuclear power plant.