誰かが言わなきゃならない

1. People’s mentality towards TEPCO

It is not good and getting worse. It could be because:
(1) Nobody from TEPCO visits us;
(2) Time is being consumed before terminating the accidents;
(3) No mentioning to compensation; and
(4) No TEPCO support to the evacuation camp, etc.
Frustrations built in
their deep psychology before the accidents might have been released from their control.

TEPCO employees as well as those of TEPCO’s associated companies are well paid, enough to build new houses. On the other hand, sub-contractors’ employees, workers in the local industries and farmers have had envious mentality. Distinction also exists among local shop owners: those who could get contracts with TEPCO (stable earnings) and those who could not (frustrated).

TEPCO employees had a reputation of being arrogant and authoritative, well paid
for no significant labor. Some people here claim that the TEPCO people have lost their face to see us. Daily frustrations seem to have erupted. They think: “TEPCO is not capable, they simply acted big”; “Old nuclear units 1-4 at Fukushima Daiichi should have been dismantled earlier.

They operated these old units with insufficient care. The accident is their bad karma”;or “The TEPCO should come to us for support before voluntary people, but nobody comes from TEPCO. No compliments come to us from TEPCO”.
A lot of people support the decision of the Fukushima Governor not to meet the
TEPCO President for his apology visit.Most farmers, full time or part time, cannot go back to farming for the time being. Their dissatisfaction might be strengthened, if the compensation is not sufficient.

2. Message boards

Hundreds of messages are on the boards. Safety confirmation messages are most. They are dropped when the safety is confirmed. The number is gradually decreasing. Other messages are: from the town offices, “Gambaro” messages from overseas, information on nearby public baths, in-camp rules and logistics, various event announcements by volunteers, exemption of NHK TV viewing fees during evacuation, contact points of banking institutions, loanopportunities for living expenses, bath times for tent baths, finger language services, etc., etc.
They aare not arranged in chronological order. It is not easy to have a look at every message.Information is complementally needed from private sources. An
example is how to get the information on gasoline availability where
to get, if badly needed: Go to the express highway service areas.

3. Town emergency headquarters

It was relocated to the Big Palette. The whole town had to evacuate,including town offices and their staff, to the Big Palette. In the Big Palette, both Tomioka-cho and Kawauchi-mura have their temporary offices. The evacuation is likely to last for some months or even longer.
A temporary building is being planned, next to the Big Palette, for the town offices.The temporary town offices function as the emergency headquarters, too, and are responsible for taking care of all sorts of the people’s needs. About 30 staff members are constantly on duty there.
Some volunteer staff from other prefectures (Yamaguchi, for instance) also work
there, but not everybody is familiar with the local practices. Occasionally the mayor is seen,but mostly he is on outside duty, for the negotiations or the meetings with the Prefectural government.

4. Optional hotel life

A new option started to support the refugees who want to stay in a hotel or a Japanese style 'ryokan” with a hot spring. The support is to provide ￥5,000 (US$50)2 per day up to three months. Many refugees took this option: new living environment (from lying on the floor to beds or in “Futon (mattresses)” as in leisure trips); better foods (from simple rice ball meals to certain menus with hot meals), and most importantly the better family privacy ensured in ndividual rooms.
The first group left us. Surprisingly, some of them returned to the Big
Palette, complaining that the parking was charged, the room conditions were very bad, etc.Daily support of US$50 is not bad, but it causes another distinction among the refugees: those who can afford and who cannot. More than hundred families left the Big Palette. But the Big Palette is still full, probably because of those “returners” and newcomers.

5. Pets

A dog adrift on wreckages on the Pacific was reported to have been rescued about three weeks after the tsunami and returned to the owner. A lot of people had their dogs or cats at home, but most of them were left behind or released to the field upon evacuation. Some people found, upon their unauthorized short return visit to their houses, many of them wandering in empty towns/villages. Some of them were lying on the street with no care to approaching cars.
Many of them are starving with no foods for weeks. They may become the
prey of wild animals in the area: foxes, masked palm civets or crows.
Some refugees took a risk to return homes to fetch them. But no pets are allowed in the Big Palette. They have to stay outside on a leash. Cats can be kept in the cars or in the pet hotels.
The hotels or rent houses allowing pets, however, are not so popular in Koriyama like in Tokyo.The aforementioned message board extends a couple of offers to take care of pets for a while. Pets might be the most affected victims hit by the accidents.