Five former residents of Futaba, the last locality that remained uninhabited near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (northeast of Japan) since the March 2011 disaster, returned Thursday, January 20 to resettle there, at the test for now.
After extensive radioactive decontamination work, many areas near the devastated plant have again been declared safe by Japanese authorities in recent years.
Read alsoTen years after Fukushima, the delicate problem of the plant's radioactive water
Last year, only 2.4% of the territory of the department of Fukushima was still declared uninhabitable by the authorities.
Japanese television showed the few residents returning to Futaba inspecting their homes on Thursday.
One of them turned on a tap in front of his house to check the water supply: “
It's coming out!
This is the first time in 10 years and 11 months that water has come out of
it,” he exclaimed.
A temporary installation
A local official explained to AFP that this was the first group of five inhabitants returning to settle on a trial basis in the town, the objective being to prepare for their sustainable return. These residents will be able to stay at least until June, when the evacuation order for certain areas must be lifted. They will then be able to stay permanently, the official said. In addition, ten other people have similar relocation plans in Futaba, which had 5,600 inhabitants before the 2011 disaster.
This program "
aims to ensure that residents will be able to live on site without any problems, for example by checking that the sewage network is working properly, that the facilities for daily life are in place
", it is specified. alongside Japanese government services dedicated to supporting the people of Fukushima. On March 11, 2011, a powerful undersea earthquake off the northeastern coast of Japan triggered a massive tsunami, which hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant located by the sea, cutting off its emergency power supply. and its cooling system.
This nuclear disaster, the worst in history after Chernobyl in 1986, did not kill anyone directly.
But some 470,000 people subsequently had to evacuate their homes located in irradiated areas.
Many of these evacuees are reluctant to return, still dreading radiation, or have since moved permanently elsewhere.
In total, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami left nearly 18,500 dead and missing.
