The light and shadow of Fukushima, the bustle of the city that will not return even with constant rebuilding, 10 years after the Great East Japan-Bloomberg Earthquake

It has been 10 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011. The government is spending a lot of money to bring residents and jobs back to the disaster area, but the reconstruction of Fukushima Prefecture is still underway. halfway.

Various rebuilding efforts have been made in disaster-affected areas, from the development of vital infrastructure such as supermarkets and transportation infrastructure to cutting-edge technologies such as the opening of hydrogen energy research facilities. However, only a handful of displaced people have returned.

In some areas of Fukushima, the exclusion zone still remains due to the impact of the nuclear accident caused by the earthquake, and reconstruction work is delayed.The decommissioning work is expected to take between 30 and 40 years and there is uncertainty about the future.

The memorial built in Namie Town is engraved with the names of some 200 residents who died in the tsunami and earthquake. Approximately 21,000 inhabitants of this town, located about 8 kilometers north of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, were forced to evacuate to protect themselves from the radioactive materials released by the nuclear accident, and the town was abandoned overnight …

Four years ago, the evacuation order was lifted, except in some areas, and residents were allowed to return. However, the number of people currently living is about 1,600, which is less than 10% of the number before the earthquake. According to multiple surveys, more than 50% of the evacuees have no intention of returning.

Akihiro Maeda (39), who runs a heavy equipment leasing business with his family, says: “I won’t be back before the earthquake.” I bought a house in my hometown of Namie in 19 with the intention of living with my wife Ryoko (29).

The boss says, “People who really want to come back have come back.” “There are people from the evacuation site who have to do something in the area, but there is no young man of the same age who has returned to Namie and is doing things in the area.”

Hollow

The disaster area with new houses and roads is 32 trillion yen.It’s a showcase for one of the world’s most expensive rebuilding projects on a budget. However, the region, where the economic recession and population decline are particularly severe, faces the new challenge of emptying itself due to the effects of the earthquake.

Many parts of Japan are experiencing a population decline. Among them, Fukushima stands out, and in the last 10 years it has decreased by 10% to 1.8 million. Neighboring Miyagi Prefecture decreased by about 2.5%. According to the latest available data, the economic growth rate of Fukushima from 2010 to 2018 was + 8.1%, lower than the + 19% of Miyagi.

According to economist Yudai Suzuki of the Daiwa Research Institute, the recovery of production capacity in Fukushima is lagging behind other regions. Manufacturing production recovered to pre-earthquake levels in 2012 in Iwate and 2013 in Miyagi, but it took until 2017 in Fukushima.

Desolate old town, the light of the reconstruction of the Olympic Games does not come, nuclear evacuees, dreams of returning

The Great East Japan Earthquake, which recorded the largest magnitude 9 earthquake in the history of national observation. At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, all power was lost due to the flooding caused by the tsunami, making it impossible to cool the reactor, and three core meltdowns occurred. Approximately 160,000 people have been forced to evacuate and some 20,000 people have died or are missing.

Although the area in the northern part of the prefecture was severely damaged by the tsunami, reconstruction work could start at an early stage. On the other hand, some areas where the effects of radioactive contamination persist have not yet been set as the starting line for reconstruction. The shipping value of manufactured goods in Futaba-gun in 2018 is only a quarter of that before the earthquake. Although the inspection of radioactive materials for food is carried out extensively, the Ukedo fishing port in Namie Town has not come back to life as long as the damage to the reputation of Fukushima products persists.

Governor Masao Uchibori of Fukushima Prefecture told reporters on the 10th: “It is important for the reconstruction of the region to balance the part of recovering the original life and the part of a new future.”

Aeon supermarket opened in Namie Town in 2019. MUJI will open in “Michinoeki Namie” at the end of March. The JR Joban line, which connects Tokyo and Fukushima, resumed operations on all lines last year.

Robot and hydrogen energy

In Fukushima, a “Fukushima Innovation Coast” project is underway to promote global environmentally friendly energy, robotics and technology industries to build a new industrial base.

In Namie Town, a hydrogen production facility “Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R)” using renewable energy was built on the former planned construction site of the nuclear power plant. FH2R is expected to play an important role in Japan, which is aiming to achieve a carbon-free society by 1950.

In the city of Minamisoma, the government has invested about 7.7 billion yen to build the “Fukushima Robot Test Range” on land that is no longer suitable for housing due to the tsunami. Tests such as drone flying in a high wind environment and inspection of underwater infrastructure by robots are underway.

However, the facility, which is roughly the same size as Tokyo Disneyland, only has about 40 employees. FH2R does not have full-time employees and has few jobs.