CONSULTING

Although the standard for recognizing a worker’s leukemia as an occupational disease is exposure
to more than 5 mSv/year of radiation, MHLW stated that “this recognition does not prove
scientifically the causal relationship of radiation exposure and its health effects”. 290
Offsite Challenges
Current Status of Evacuation
The Reconstruction Agency set the five years following the earthquake of 2011 as the intensive
reconstruction period, and the term from April 2016 to March 2021 as the reconstruction and
revitalization period. 291 However, there have been many delays with the reconstruction efforts over
the past five years.
As of May 2016, 92,600 Fukushima Prefecture residents had been forced to evacuate from their
homes: Specifically, 50,600 people had evacuated to other areas within Fukushima Prefecture. The
remaining 42,000 people had evacuated to other prefectures across Japan. 292
As of September 2015, which are the latest available figures, about 70,000 people have been
evacuated from the designated evacuation zones due to the Fukushima accident: specifically, about
24,000 people were evacuated from the difficult-to-return zone, about 23,000 people from the
restricted-residence zone, and 24,000 people from the zone in preparation for the lifting of the
evacuation order. 293
As of the end of September 2015, the total number of disaster-related deaths—i.e. deaths that were
not caused directly by the earthquake and tsunami but were due to indirect causes such as
deterioration of physical conditions as a result of evacuation—was 3,407 people. These people had
been living in nine prefectures and Tokyo. Of these, Fukushima Prefecture had the highest number
with 1,979 deaths. 294 This figure is particularly high among people who evacuated from cities and
towns within evacuation zones such as Minami-soma, Tomioka and Namie.
Moreover, according to the statistics collected by the Cabinet Office, the number of suicides related
to the Great East Japan Earthquake has decreased everywhere else but Fukushima Prefecture (see
Table 7). 295
290 MHLW, “Result of review at the ‘review meeting on occupational/non-occupational ionizing radiation
disease’ and approval as occupational disease/injury”, 20 October 2015, see
www.mhlw.go.jp/english/policy/employ-labour/labour-standards/dl/151111-01.pdf, accessed 5 June 2016.
291 Reconstruction Agency, “The Process and Prospects for Reconstruction”, March 2016, (in Japanese), see
http://www.reconstruction.go.jp/english/topics/Progress_to_date/image/20160307_process_and_prspects.pdf,
accessed 12 April 2016.
292 Fukushima Prefecture, “Immediate update on the damage situation of 2011 Tohoku-Pacific Ocean
earthquake (Report No. 1642)”, (in Japanese), see
http://www.pref.fukushima.lg.jp/uploaded/life/206010_465920_misc.xls, accessed 21 May 2016.
293 Reconstruction Agency, “Current status of reconstruction”, 4 March 2016, (in Japanese), see
http://www.reconstruction.go.jp/topics/main-cat7/sub-cat7-2/20160304-4_sankousiryou1-1.pdf, accessed
21 May 2016.
294 Reconstruction Agency, “The number of disaster-related deaths due to the Great East Japan Earthquake”,
25 December 2015, (in Japanese) see http://www.reconstruction.go.jp/topics/main-cat2/sub-cat2-
6/20151225_kanrenshi.pdf, accessed 12 April 2016.
295 Cabinet Office, “Number of suicides related to the Great East Japan Earthquake”, 13 March 2016,
(in Japanese), see http://www8.cao.go.jp/jisatsutaisaku/toukei/pdf/h27joukyou/jishin.pdf, accessed
12 April 2016.
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. 93 World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016