The Fukushima Nuclear Accident and the People’s Tribunal on Nuclear Power

Tanaka Yuki

Chapter Chapter 1 in Natural Disaster and Reconstruction in Asian Economies, 2013, pp 3-16 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract On March 12, 2011, the day after a mega earthquake and a tsunami hit Japan’s main island of Honshu, Reactor Number One of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant exploded.1 Soon after, an evacuation order for the 77,000 residents from 28,000 households within 20 km of the power plant was issued. The majority of people did not receive this official command, however, as the earthquake had cut electricity and all communication lines. Nevertheless, rumor spread quickly that the radiation emitted by the explosion was so deadly that it would kill everyone in the vicinity unless they escaped immediately. Many people from within the 20-km zone, as well as a vast number of residents from outside the area, began to flee. It is estimated that, in total, more than 80,000 people evacuated. No one had anticipated a nuclear accident of this magnitude, and no one was prepared for the ensuing crisis. There was not enough drinking water, baby food, diapers, medicine, and other essentials. People did not have enough fuel to travel long distances, yet they tried to flee by car nevertheless. Traffic jams soon created further chaos, and in many areas, cars moved only 50 m an hour. Some people abandoned their cars in the middle of the road when fuel ran out, and many cars queued up to purchase fuel, further delaying the escape of those inside the affected zone and increasing their exposure to the radiation.

Keywords: Japanese Government; Atomic Bomb Survivor; Fukushima Prefecture; Reactor Number; Electric Power Company (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-36416-6_1

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781137364166

DOI: 10.1057/9781137364166_1

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().