Sixty-five percent of people who have been evacuated from Japan's Fukushima prefecture in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster are not planning to return home, the Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing a poll
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2020) Sixty-five percent of people who have been evacuated from Japan's Fukushima prefecture in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster are not planning to return home, the Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing a poll.
The survey was conducted by Kwansei Gakuin University, which sent questionnaires to 4,876 evacuees, but has received replies from 522 of them.
According to the findings, 341 respondents said that they had no intention of returning home. Another 138 replied that they were planning to go back. Forty-three people did not provide a clear answer.
When asked why they have not returned to the prefecture, 46.1 percent cited remaining fears of environment contamination, and 44.8 percent said they had settled down in new places.
The survey was conducted between July and September.
According to the Japanese news agency, citing the statistics, there were nearly 37,000 evacuees within and outside the prefecture, as of October.
The March 11, 2011, accident at the 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.
