10,000 Fukushima children still live outside prefecture after disaster, survey shows
Source: Kyodo
Some 10,000 children whose families fled Fukushima Prefecture due to the March 2011 nuclear disaster have yet to return, prefectural government officials said Thursday.
Five years after the earthquake and ensuing tsunami triggered the radiation crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex, families with children continue to have serious reservations about environmental safety, according to a recent survey by the prefectural government.
<snip>
Officials say despite the recent tally, the actual number of children evacuees may be higher, with some families believed to have transferred their resident registration to the municipalities where they fled.
There were about 18,000 child evacuees as of April 2012. The number gradually declined after evacuation orders for some municipalities were lifted when radiation doses dropped following decontamination works. As of Feb. 1, the prefecture’s population stood at around 1.91 million.
Read more: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/03/national/10000-fukushima-children-still-live-outside-prefecture-disaster-survey-shows/